After a friend printed a misguided defence of abortion (from her comments thread)

[fpb]

Rephrase your premise as follows:
I don't agree with abortions... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.
I don't agree with rape... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.
I don't agree with burglary... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.
I don't agree with assault... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.
I don't agree with embezzlement... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.
I don't agree with fraud... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.
I don't agree with forced marriage... but if they're going to happen (which they will), they need to be safe and legal.

etc., etc., etc.....

Excuse me, if something is wrong, why the Hell should it be safe and legal, only because "it's going to happen"? Crime is always "going to happen". That is the point of having laws. We do not have laws against something which, though wrong, is never going to happen (e.g. there is no law against stealing someone's soul). The point of having a law against it is to state that it is a disapproved and forbidden activity, and that, if you are caught (which, alas, will not always be the case), you will be punished. This trash about "it's going to happen anyway" is simply something that abortionists repeat ad nauseam, on the principle that if we hear a statement often enough we're going to take it for granted.

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

My view would be that the man is a creep and deserves punishment - in particular, by totally forbidding access to the baby. And yes, he would have to pay support. If he did not want a baby, he should have kept his sexual organs to himself. End of story.

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

"If he did not want a baby, he should have kept his sexual organs to himself. End of story."

Sadly, that notion of personal responsibility sounds almost like crazy talk(to men and women alike) in our culture.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It does not to me, though I rarely had the opportunity to put it to the test. As I said once or twice, I am repulsive to women. So of course it's easier for me to say than for Mick Jagger. But if I ever do get involved with anyone, it is with the principle that if it happens, it happens, and I take my responsibility.