Okay, I know this topic has been done a handful of times here already (to cafe regulars, I apologize, but I hope you respond nonetheless.) With the advent of the 2006 law banning abortion in South Dakota, I'd like to see which of the following you all think is the most *reasonable* reason for abortion. If you're pro-life, this should be easier to answer. If you're pro-choice, imagine yourself generally willing to have a baby (but one of these situations happened), despite that stance.

1. Unplanned pregnancy: "I'm not ready, able or willing to take of a baby."
2. Rape: Easy enough, man forces himself onto woman and she is impregnated.
3. Incest: Relatives somehow think it'd be a good idea to have sex with each other and one gets pregnant.
4. Mortal danger to mother: Because of a mothers own health issues, her pregnancy would be high risk and stands to have fatal complications.
5. Disability: Doctors conclude that the baby will be born with mental or physical ailments.

I think the main reason they DO get it is simply because they don't want the baby. In comparison I think the main reason they SHOULD get it is if they're risking their own health and life carrying to full term and it's too early to induce labor or do a C-section.

Never! An outright abortion is never justified under any circumstances. There may be attempts to save the mother's life that could result in the death of the child that may be justified, under the principle of double effect, but I've found that this is hardly ever REALLY the case.

They say that only 2% of all the abortions (1.3 million a year) performed in this country are for reasons of health or because it was rape, so you have about a million women whose reason must be falling under 'I can just get rid of it and get on with my life'.

Shale wrote:

I put down the catch-all "Unplanned Pregnancy" because it covers all the other reasons for an abortion. A woman should not be forced to endure months of carrying a fetus that she did not want and in certain circumstances could be a reminder of a traumatic event in her life. [/size][/color]

If she didn't want it, there ARE ways of preventing that, and since people LOVE to comment on how contraceptives are 99.something % effective, WHERE are these 1.3 women a year coming from? Are they ALL women who the pill didn't work for or the condom broke?

I honestly couldn't care less about the reasons a woman decides to get an abortion, the end result is all the same. We pour way to much thinking into what is essentially a medical procedure decided upon by a woman and her doctor. It isn't my or anyone else's place to scrutinize her for taking action regarding her condition. I'd rather a woman terminate a pregnancy than to give birth to a child she can't take care of or neglects because she isn't mature or maternal enough to care for.

But here are some interesting statistical info that I found about the subject and reasons why
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html

REASONS GIVEN FOR ABORTIONS: AGI SURVEY, 2004 [6]reason% of abortions, most important reason% of abortions, all reasons

rape	<0.5	(1)
incest		(<0.5)
mother has health problems	4	(12)
possible fetal health problems	3	(13)
unready	25	(32)
is too immature or young to have child	7	(22)
woman's parents want her to have abortion	<0.5	(6)
has problems with relationship or wants to avoid single parenthood	8	(48)
husband or partner wants her to have abortion	<0.5	(14)
has all the children she wanted or all children are grown	19	(38)
can't afford baby now	23	(73)
--unmarried		(42)
--student or planning to study		(34)
--can't afford baby and child care		(28)
--can't afford basic life needs		(23)
--unemployed		(22)
--can't leave job to care for baby		(21)
--would have to find new place to live		(19)
--not enough support from husband/partner		(14)
--husband/partner unemployed		(12)
--currently on welfare or public assistance		(8 )
concerned about how having baby would change her life		(74)
--would interfere with education plans	4	(38)
--would interfere with career plans		(38)
--would interfere with care of children or dependents		(32)
doesn't want others to know she had relations or is pregnant	<0.5	(25)
other	6

The motive list.

CatEyes10736 wrote:

I honestly couldn't care less about the reasons a woman decides to get an abortion, the end result is all the same. We pour way to much thinking into what is essentially a medical procedure decided upon by a woman and her doctor. It isn't my or anyone else's place to scrutinize her for taking action regarding her condition. I'd rather a woman terminate a pregnancy than to give birth to a child she can't take care of or neglects because she isn't mature or maternal enough to care for.

Thank you. Total

Supernova wrote:

If she didn't want it, there ARE ways of preventing that, and since people LOVE to comment on how contraceptives are 99.something % effective, WHERE are these 1.3 women a year coming from? Are they ALL women who the pill didn't work for or the condom broke?

. Prob. How do or would you know that it's NOT? Why are you assuming that the majority of women who get abortions are getting knocked up carelessly? It's still her decision to have a child or not.