to not want a teenage boy telling me abortion is a sin and should never be legalised?!

[ThisMomentusDay]

I never really know how to feel about abortion, i don't think i could ever have one but thankfully i've never been in a position to have to consider this so it's a very easy thing to say isn't it?
As such i'm very much sitting on the 'pro-choice' fence!
It's such a personal choice for a woman and not usually one taken lightly.

Yesterday on the street there was a stall set up with a petition to the Taoiseach (PM) to not have any sort of a referendum on legalising abortion in Ireland. Fair enough i thought, freedom of speech, right to protest etc.
Untill i was passing and a teenage boy below the voting age (and possibly the age of consent) tries to hand me the leaflets. I looked across the street and on the 4 corners of this junction there are teenage boys handing anti-abortion leaflets out to (mainly) women!

It really annoyed me, (especially as it was very obviously a catholic group and i think the church has done enough damage to the state and should stay the hell out of politics) but i just refused the leaflets and kept walking.

AIBU to have thought 'what the hell has it got to do with you?'

YABU its democracy, I don't like what you say but I defend your right to say it

I have felt uncomfortable when I have seen young people at some political rallies/protest marches wondering to myself how freely they chose their participation IYSWIM

Surely the same applies here ZZZen. These boys have not freely chosen thier particpation they have been manipulated by the Catholic Church.

that's what I am wondering, if this is what made her feel uneasy about it. Or if it was more them being boys or so young?

YBU
How do you know they were 14, not , say, young looking 18.
If they were indeed 14, then 'very nice' for some of you to call children 'fuckers'.
They have a right to their opinion . I met young people speaking more sense than a 50 year old.
Are they brainwashed by the church or maybe the other way round, you are brainwashed by liberals, it is a matter of opinion .

Yes. My belief that a women should have the right to make her own choices is because I have been brainwashed by liberals. I would need to be, what with it being such a crazy and radical idea

But isn't that kind of the point mysterynotsolved was making cat1976. Many people from both sides of the spectrum look to elevate their own opinions as being the informed one etc. while the opposing view is dismissed must be due to brainwashing etc.
So you end up with some liberals (hate that term) who view theirs as the well informed researched one etc. while anyone who opposes is due to indoctrination/religious brainwashing
and some anti-abortion/pro-life people who argue that theirs is the informed one etc and those who disagree have been indoctrinated/brainwashed by the liberal media etc.
It's completely subjective and as you are rightly taken aback by the suggestion that you could only hold your view or opinion due to brainwashing it's equally dismissive and insulting to suggest that those who hold the opposing view do so only because of brainwashing.

Well I would be prepared to eat my words if the boys in question could demonstrate an understanding of the issues involved on both sides of the debate.

catgirl, in my opinion a woman who does not believe that by abortion she is killing her own child must be brainwashed.

Do you not think there are plenty of women who DO think they are killing thier own child but still have an abortion? I think thats one of the reasons it is such a personal and difficult choice to make and one that causes so much guilt, shame, remorse etc.

OP ASSUMED they were catholic, does that mean protestants in Ireland dont oppose abortion?

If you read the link that someone put on the first page catgirl then you would see they understand and could argue the point with you very well.

here is the link again

www.youthdefence.ie/who-we-are/

i would have challanged him

one why he believed it was a sin and secondly could he ever show empathy for a woman for what ever reasons who desperately did not want to be pregnant. and then dismissed what he had to say one because i am pro choice, secondly when young you tend to be more idealistic in your beliefs and thirdly i dismiss any male who tells me what a woman should/can and shouldn't/can not do with her body. i can seriously debate this subject with any women but a man who opposes abortion i can not

I am sorry but I do not believe the 14 year old boy could argue the case well. Firstly you don't know he was "youth defence". Secondly, he may not be able to argue well even if he was. Thirdly, he is 14. And a boy. He has no experience of what he is talking about. Finally I do not believe spouting dogma parrot fashion wit no understanding or empathy for the other side of the debate is "arguing" or "understanding".

Who said he was 14??? no one said 14 yet you keep chirping on about it!

and he doesnt need to have experience of it to have an opinion, I have no experience of abortion but i have my opinion on it too!

Why is it ok for 14 year olds to discuss abortion extensively in schools ( my sons had to at that age), for the topic to come up in this year's religious studies GCSE, but for them to form an opinion and voice it , it is sudenlly a no no , they are too stupid, immature etc. ?

i was going in protests since 13, i was able to argue my point because i believed i was speaking the truth. now i can see my views were idealistic i come from a very political family as i have grown older i have formed my own views but i was still able to argue my point at this age, and will do so with a young adult debate an issue, but i will not debate abortion with young or older men when they are coming from an anti abortion stance

i said i would dismiss his point of view i would challenge him why he felt that way, he may change. i am not against young adults campaigning what they passionately beleive in but with the abortion argument it becomes too emotive and do not agree with the use of some if the terms some of the pro life lobby use

Mystery, I am all for teenagers debating and discussing abortion at length, but by publicly petitioning for changes in the law you are not just 'forming an opinion and voicing it', you are trying to force the implications of your opinions on other people's lives.

Mysterynotsolved - because I do not believe a balanced, reasoned discussion has taken place in this boys school. Yes - in your sons in England it probably has, but not in a Catholic school.

Tallulah -sorry I thought it said he was 14 somewhere. But still. I do not think he has had a balanced education on the subject or expereince of it.

As I said in a previous post: He has the right to his opinion. He has the right to voice it. I would have the right to be annoyed with him trying to foist his views on me in the street. I would have a right to disagree with his views and I would have the right to think he had not had a balanced education on the issue.

Oh and Tallulah - from that link you gave me

we?ve one thing in common: we know that abortion is wrong.

Really? You KNOW that? It's not that you BELIEVE that, or you FEEL that, or IN YOUR OPINION? No. You KNOW.

That's not a good sign IMO.

Untill i was passing and a teenage boy below the voting age (and possibly the age of consent)

This to me implies a boy of 16/17 but possibly younger. I think there is a world of difference between what a 14yo has experienced and what a 17yo has experienced, both personally and through friends.

OP, YABU to object to his protest due to the fact he is a boy and under 18 as he may well have peers who have had experienced regarding unwanted pregnancy and abortion. I have never been in the position to need an abortion, but I would be entitled to a view just because of my age and sex.

YWNBU to not want anyone telling you that abortion is a sin and should never be legalised, but YABU to be annoyed based on gender and age. You do not have to listen or agree, but just as people can come on here and air their views, you have to accept that people will want to do the same in RL. As you said, 'Fair enough i thought, freedom of speech, right to protest etc.' Only not if you have never had first hand experience, it would seem, which rules out loads of us on loads of issues.