Comments on The Declassified Adoptee: Santorum on Rape and Abortion: you Might be Surpri...

You're totally right!

2012-01-28T10:34:57.633-05:00

You're totally right!

Thank you! :-)

2012-01-28T10:34:31.081-05:00

Thank you! :-)

Yes, anon, in theory, you have summarized what I a...

2012-01-28T10:34:09.507-05:00

Yes, anon, in theory, you have summarized what I am saying correctly. I will be making a post elaborating about this, hopefully by Wednesday (titled "Get Your Hands off Me") if you want to stop by and check it out.

Thanks for dropping in! :-)

He is consistent on his views but I cringe listeni...

2012-01-27T18:04:55.896-05:00

He is consistent on his views but I cringe listening to any of the GOP race rhetoric. I am just so different on what I consider to be right and just. Gingrich really scares me after his comment to defund PP and spend those dollars saved on adoption. It is all so very easy to say stuff like that but not look at the reality of either action not to mention family preservation.

Sorry for going off tangent - the entire GOP race is making me very scared for women.

As usual, you hit the nail on the head. I love rea...

2012-01-26T09:12:15.481-05:00

As usual, you hit the nail on the head. I love reading your posts because it helps clarify what I feel but can't put into words.

Thank you :-)

2012-01-25T22:11:51.647-05:00

Thank you :-)

Thank you so much for this thoughtful and clear po...

2012-01-25T21:18:52.030-05:00

Thank you so much for this thoughtful and clear post. I appreciate it most because I don't think I have ever completely understood the pro-choice perspective clearly. And I want to try to understand it clearly now. So, am I right that it is about a woman's choice about her body (regardless of what age gestation she is in her pregnancy) because it is about her rights as a person to control what happens to her body? Is that correct? And once she gives birth, the baby then is a person who has rights equal to the woman, but not until the baby is out of the woman's body (in other words, a pregnancy in it's 8th month doesn't mean there is a 8 month old baby in her body with equal rights as the woman)? Because before then, even if the baby is viable, the woman (as a person with rights to control the choices she makes over her body) should (theoretically) be able to abort at any point if she so choices? Do I understand that right? Again, thank you!

Amanda, this is another exceptional post you have ...

2012-01-25T21:11:08.728-05:00

Amanda, this is another exceptional post you have written. I like how you manage to share your views in a thoughtful, yet non-threatening way. (Particularly on a contentious issue like this.) I would think that even those who disagree should hopefully be able to see your point. I happen to agree with what you have said. I am not sure I could articulate it as well as you have.

Thanks, also, for explaining the dichotomy for those on the religious right who are "pro-life" with regard to fetuses, but not with regard to convicted criminals. I have never been able to understand how it is "pro-life" to demand the death penalty. Or for those who try to protect unborn fetuses by murdering abortion doctors. This has never made sense to me. It still doesn't, but I think you have explained to Kris what lies beneath their thinking. (I'm still not sure how it squares with the "Thou shalt not kill" commandment.)

As a first mother, I don't think a mother's love for her child is determined by the circumstances of conception. I do not appreciate the media negating the value of those conceived by rape or incest. It is important that you are raising awareness of this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley :-)

2012-01-25T20:46:01.680-05:00

Thank you, Ashley :-)

Thanks Kris :-) Santorum is in support of the dea...

2012-01-25T20:43:05.961-05:00

Thanks Kris :-)

Santorum is in support of the death penalty. From my experience growing up surrounded by the Religious Right, the inconsistency we see is not an inconsistency to them. There is value to the life of a fetus because it has done no wrong (in fact, some might say the woman is the one in the wrong for her sexual behavior and a pregnancy as a consequence of having sex is her duty to fulfill) on the flip-side, an autonomous adult relinquishes their right to life when they choose to take the life of another human being--the justification of the death penalty. Santorum believes that verifiable cases of murder should result in the death penalty.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, BTW :-)

2012-01-25T20:39:57.574-05:00

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, BTW :-)

I personally define sexual abuse no differently th...

2012-01-25T20:38:46.397-05:00

I personally define sexual abuse no differently than rape.

I don't think that late term abortions are a good thing or necessarily a moral thing (legality and morality are two different things, however). I also think they're extremely rare and someone would be hard-pressed to find a doctor who would perform one.

That being said, cutting off a woman's access to abortion services or cutting of her ability to make any decision that might negatively impact her pregnancy because of the gestational age of the fetus, to me, states that there are circumstances in which is is OK to make a woman into nothing more than a biological vessel who has no say over her body or what can or cannot happen to her body. In my mind, gestational age is not a reason to take away her personhood. The same line of thinking goes both ways. At 8 months gestation, is a fetus more or less of a person than an already born person? Or, at 8 months gestation, is a woman any less a person or any less autonomous than she was at 2 months gestation or when she wasn't pregnant at all?

Thank you, Anne.

2012-01-25T20:33:40.051-05:00

Thank you, Anne.

Such an amazingly well thought out post! I've ...

2012-01-25T20:26:16.443-05:00

Such an amazingly well thought out post! I've always been pro-choice, but you've really opened my eyes to a whole new reason to be so. Thank you for sharing your point of view on this difficult subject.

Great post with some great points Amanda. Abortion...

2012-01-25T19:29:32.233-05:00

Great post with some great points Amanda. Abortion is such a touchy subject I don't usually discuss my views with ANYBODY. But it seems that if you are against abortion, it makes sense to be against ALL abortion (except perhaps if the mother's health is at risk or the child has a condition incompatible with life). I can't stand Santorum but you make a good point that at least he is consistant and I have to give him credit for that!

On a side note, do you happen to know Santorum's view on the death penalty? It always irritates me how many "pro-lifers" are vigorous supporters of the death penalty.

I have concieved and birthed a child (or two depen...

2012-01-25T18:32:58.613-05:00

I have concieved and birthed a child (or two depending on how you define rape vs sexual abuse) from rape. You have nothing to be ashamed of and deserve to be loved and cared for and valued as much as any child. I agree with you that the question is offensive. If a fetus has personhood than rape does not make that personhood void. More than anything, using the logic a fetus has personhood, such a child deserves even more love and care to cope with the life issues they have to process with being concieved in such circumstances. Not all women who concieve children in rape want abortions, or adoptions, and I think we should do more to support women in this vulnerable and traumatic position have resources to help them through the trauma and mental health systems, the obstacles they may be facing to parent, and to to have the care they need to be a loving and consistant mother to their children during such a difficult situation. A child needs their mother even if they came to be from a traumatic act. Having my daughter adopted out after conceiving her in an abusive relationship was not in my interest though considering my ability to parent at the time it may well have been in hers considering there was no real support offered for what I was going through.

That said the best thing for both of us would have been to have the support we needed.

I too agree that Santorum is right for being consistant, and I'm not sure I completely agree about why abortion should be legal because I think once a fetus can feel it changes the issue and is more important to me than whether the fetus is inside or outside the mothers body. If a woman is 8 months pregnant, I just don't see abortion as ethical. I'm honestly not sure that I could vote for that being legal. If an baby were born at 8 months it would be well in the range of being likely to be healthy and be capable of feeling and needing as a little person does. I'm not sure that being inside or outside the mothers body changes that.

There are arguments that might be able to sway me towards voting for late term abortions being legal but I would need to here more compelling reasons than simply being in a mothers body that would make me think an 8 month old fetus could be aborted. I might be able to move the issue from legal to moral in my head but it would really concern me if people were advocating late term abortions were perfectly moral and having them regularly.

Very well put, Amanda. Excellent post.

2012-01-25T17:13:20.613-05:00

Very well put, Amanda. Excellent post.