Abby and Toby wrote:
>>Vegetarianism and abortion, I find that incredibly ridiculous!
I just can't get this comment out of my head. It is so ridiculous...........so ridiculous that some women don't eat meat because they don't want to harm or kill an animal, yet they will willfully, and by choice, harm and kill their unborn baby. I find this incredibly ridiculous.
As a pro-choice vegan, I actually find that quite offensive.
One could argue (as you've raised the issue), it is equally (if not more) ridiculous to claim to be 'pro-life' yet to kill intelligent, sentient animals needlessly for your pleasure because you happen to like the taste of their dead bodies. Being a selectively 'pro-life' omnivore is more than a little hypocritical! Or do some lives matter more than others? And who are we to judge?
No-one in Western countries *needs* to consume animal flesh, so the slaughter and cruelty involved in the animal flesh industries is absolutely needless (I do not believe the same of third world countries, where food resources may be scarce and there may be absolute need to consume animal flesh, however).
Cruelty and animal abuse for no valid reason whatsoever can never be justified logically, whereas legal abortion certainly can be on numerous grounds (including the social and mental welfare of the woman, the specific situation involving her pregnancy, disabled or deformed fetuses, the avoidance of illegal, unsafe abortion etc.)
It should also be pointed out that in Australia, abortion is only legal several weeks before a fetus is medically 'viable'. We are not talking about killing sentient, viable children. We are talking about a procedure much more akin to the removal of unwanted/unviable flesh from a woman's body, to assess it from a purely medical point of view.
Any genuine argument against abortion of non-viable fetuses must invariably come from a religious / personal ethics point of view, and is simply not logical. Fortunately, we do not live in a society where the ethics/religious beliefs of a small percentage of Australians dictate the lives of the majority. Women who do not support abortion can simply choose not to have one. But they do not have the right to pass judgement on other women and their rights any more than I, as a vegan, have the right to force the omnivorous majority not to eat animal flesh.
Being pro-choice is a compassionate decision - we place the needs of women above the needs of an unborn fetus that is, scientifically and literally speaking, nowhere near as developed as the average pig going to slaughter. Being vegan and pro-choice, I am showing compassion and non-judgement for both women and animals. Being omnivorous and fiercely 'pro-life' is, arguably, being compassionate to neither.
You have every right to be pro-choice, but you do not have the right to make decisions for other women, nor do you have the right to pass judgement on women who might have perfectly valid reasons for termination.
I do not wish to turn this issue into a huge debate or flame-war, so I will end my post on the note that we all have different beliefs, we all have different views, and we all have different ethics. That is what being part of the Australian community is about. But perhaps if we all showed a little more tolerance for ideas that differ from our own, instead of branding them as 'ridiculous' and trying to shove our own viewpoint down other people's necks, we'd all get along a great deal better. Respect for life - *all* life - must begin with respect for other people and their autonomy.
Should anyone wish to continue this discussion, please feel free to email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that we show the courtesy of not bombarding the rest of the list (who may not be interested in this off-topic issue) with emails.
Leanne.
Abby
-- Leanne Veitch Melbourne Product Centre Technical Writer Level 1 594 Elizabeth Street Agent Oriented Software Pty. Ltd. Melbourne VIC 3000 ABN: 98 078 321 589 P O Box 639 T: +61 3 9349 5055 Carlton South VIC 3053 F: +61 3 9349 5088 Australia E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.agent-software.com
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