Is it me or ...

I suspect as a teenager / young woman I was pro-choice because I was sexually active at 15, went on the pill because I was very determined nothing was going to get in the way of what I wanted to do.

I saw contemporaries having babies at 16/17. I used contraception but if it had failed I would definitely have had a termination.

Are they ? It's not a subject I've discussed with young women. I wonder why that would be. I have always been pro-choice. I was very left wing as a teenager and have moved to the centre on many things but not this.

I agree with PPs and think that younger women have always tended to be more anti-abortion. I think ethics about personhood and bodily autonomy are badly taught and it's much more emotional to 'think of the poor unborn babies'. I remember debating in class at 13/14 that the time limit should be reduced from 28 weeks (as it was then) - a position I now find difficult to believe I held!

"abortion should be banned, only in cases of rape, "

I never understand the logic of this.

Me either, you either think that the foetus has a right to life or you don't. The 'except in the instances of rape' shows the misogyny behind anti-abortion campaigns - women need to be punished for sex and foetuses are less valuable if they are the product of rape.

It's OK to be anti-abortion, in terms of what you would choose for yourself.

Um not if you're a feminist it's not! And this is the FWR board. It's OK to not choose abortion for yourself if that's what you meant.

I was thinking about this earlier, not anti abortion, but the viewpoints I held when I was younger and how sure I was of them without understanding them.

In my late teens I would be massively passionate about something having read one article. I took it as fact and never really looked in to it more than that. Now I am more careful with my judgements and read up around a subject that interests me, I try to be as informed as possible.

I wonder if it's that assuredness you have when you're younger that makes you only look at abortion as being about the featus, rather than a woman's choice, body autonomy and, as others have said, the reality of having a baby.

Yeah, I think you're right, Captain. But if it follows through even one more step, it does sound like they thinkbabies are a reasonable punishment for a contraception failure...

I was anti abortion(ish) before I had kids. Going through a pregnancy and giving a child up for adoption or bring a child up alone and still managing uni or work seemed completely plausible. I didn't go out drinking much and a lot of don't get pg too young' talk seemed to focus on not being able to get pissed every weekend rather than the actual difficulties.

I think the 'in case of rape' argument comes about from it being one of the first challenges to an anti-choice stance, and it's difficult to argue against so people end up conceding it. I don't think it's born from any particular logic.

"abortion should be banned, only in cases of rape, "

I never understand the logic of this. The only logic is punishing women for a possible outcome of voluntary sex. Punishing both them and the babies they are forced to birth and raise, for an unlooked for outcome to an act millions undertake every day.

If it was about personhood from conception, not punishment, there'd be no exception for rape.

PS my mid twenties English teacher used to roll her eyes at any early teen essay on the abortion debate. Views become more informed with age and experience, whether direct or through friends.

It's OK to be anti-abortion, in terms of what you would choose for yourself.

It's also OK to campaign (lawfully) for changes to the law on any subject whatsoever.

There is never going to be any agreement on the morals of abortion. The best one can hope for is toleration of all viewpoints, and laws that are framed in terms of the well-being of women.

We'll everything goes post....post modern, post materialism, post religion and now post feminism. I think that feminism is morphing into something old schoolers don't like, it's seems that hardcore beliefs are not as important to young women as they never had to fight for them, so expect change.

I remember being anti abortion in more than one debate at school and uni. A very good friend was reluctant to tell me she was having an abortion due to my 'beliefs'.

I'm now pro-choice. I grew up.

I think (in my experience anyway) that the younger you are the more conservative about that sort of thing you tend to be. I suspect they will feel differently when their lives have been touched by pregnancy (unwanted or wanted). I've always been pro-choice but having children really brought it home how important it is for a woman to have complete body autonomy. Pregnancy and labor are hard and motherhood are hard enough without being forced in to them.

(Also I think women who haven't had children might be underestimating the difficulty of say giving a child up for adoption. As a mother I know I could have an abortion but I could not give away a baby)