Barack Obama's open letter to his daughters and every child in America

[spokette]

Brack Obama published this letter in Parade Magazine in USA last week.

At his core, he is a family man who loves and cherishes his daughters as well as his beautiful wife. I love him.

Making it more difficult to obtain an abortion will reduce the number of total abortions - I don't have figures to back this up (will look into getting some when I get a spare few mins!) - but I just think it is common sense... just like making certain drugs illegal will reduce the number of people using those drugs.

As KayHarker (is that from the Box of Delights btw??) mentions, women make the choice to have a backstreet abortion - they are not FORCED to do it (even though the alternative of continuing with the pregnancy might be extremely difficult for them). They are taking a risk through their own choosing. Unborn babies have no say over what happens to them so they need protection from the law.

I agree with your beliefs Kay Harker, and perhaps Obama hold his beliefs in good conscience, but in that case I think he is uneducated about them and that is no excuse (given that he is choosing between the life and death of potentially millions)... as I mentioned before I do not see how anyone could understand the procedure of a partial birth abortion and not find it completely abhorent.

but they're not "possible" deaths and permanent damage, it's ACTUAL deaths/permanent damage. It happens all over the world, and is more prevelant where abortions are illegal or harder to get.

Whether the damage to the mother is possible or actual, the mother still has free will and the ability to choose whether to put herself at risk. I acknowledge that it may be extremely difficult for the mother to continue with the pregnancy but that is still her choice to make (and I am all for providing funding to help expectant mothers in difficult situations).
Abortion is, without any leeway, actual death to the baby who has no control at all over what happens.

Afraid you are wrong on both counts (drugs and abortions), mersmam. 'Common sense' is sometimes misleading - you have to look at what actually happens, not what you assume might happen.

What actually happens is that making drugs illegal doesn't reduce the number of users. Instead it gives organised crime a great opportunity to make money, with all the consequent damage to the rest of us and drug users in particular. The 'war on drugs' has been a complete disaster, much like the 'war on terror'.

Ditto abortions - making them illegal, or limiting women's choices, doesn't necessarily reduce the number of abortions. It means abortions are carried out later on or forces women into the back streets, with all the resulting dangers.

I agree that making it more difficult to obtain an abortion will increase the number of illegal abortions. However, there are more than 200,000 abortions every year in Britain. Do you think that this number of people would break the law to have an abortion?

You probably have a point about drugs though!

How about euthanasia? Do you think the number of cases would increase if it were made legal in the UK rather than people having to fly to some clinic in Switzerland? That is probably a better example than the drug one...

Legalisation of abortion increases the number of abortions.
''If one wants corroboration of this fact, one need only look to American history. As Stephen Levitt and Steven Dubner have noted:

In the first year after Roe v. Wade, some 750,000 women had abortions in the United States (representing one abortion for every four live births). By 1980, the number of abortions had reached 1.6 million (one for every 2.25 live births), where it leveled off.

To believe that legalization did not increase the number of abortions performed in the U.S., one would have to believe that both that there were around 850,000 illegal abortions in America every year prior to Roe (despite abortion being legal in several of the largest states). One would also have to believe that, upon legalization, the number of abortions in the U.S. suddenly and inexplicably fell by about half, only to return to its prior level over the next decade. The first assumption is merely implausible. The second is absurd.''

blackadderiv.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/making-abortion-illegal-reduces-the-abortion-rate/

I think it's very genuine. Thinking the world is 'all about me' until you have kids, then all you want is make sure they grow up with access to opportunities and inherit a better world.

Good on him. as a parent, it struck a very poignant note.

What bothers me about Obama with regards to partial birth abortions (which is a disgusting practice) is that while he was in the Illinois state senate he was against the Illinois equivalent of the federal Infants Born Alive Protection Act. This act says that if a baby survives the process of a partial birth abortion (as in rare cases they do) that doctors must do their best to save it.

So not only is he in favor of aborting at say 25 weeks, he's also in favor of not helping an infant that survives the process, so basically let it be born alive and left to die, because we can't burden the mother.

I didn't know that MKG - I just can't understand the rationale behind his policies on unborn babies, particularly when he seems so decent in other ways...

mersmam, that links through to a blog by someone who is clearly anti-abortion and so is presenting the case in a way that favours his/her points.

Just as a starter, Roe v Wade was 1973. Lots of things have changed in the decades since then - you can't assume legality was the only driver of the statistics.

And the author claims Ireland's abortion rate is lower than the UK because it's illegal in Ireland -neatly ignoring the fact that a. it's difficult to obtain statistics about illegal abortions because they are, um, illegal and b. that Irish women tend to travel to the UK if they can get the money together. So the UK statistics will include many Irish women (and Northern Irish who have to travel to the mainland).

Yes the link is to an anti-abortion blog, just as I'm sure there are links to pro-abortion blogs which will show the opposite figures... In reality it is not possible to compare abortion figures in two IDENTICAL countries, one where abortion is legal and one where abortion is not! As it is not possible, I think we therefore need to rely on common sense which tells us that people would be less likely to have an abortion if it is illegal.

In a secular society (which I would say ours is becoming) if people do not have a religion to guide them morally i would say that some of those people would rely on the laws of that society. Therefore if the laws tell them abortion is OK they will be more likely to consider having one.

it's an old article but about Kenya

With a population of 31 million, and 300,000 woman having illegal abortions each year. I'd say that's a pretty high number.

When you've met a woman who has had an illegal "backstreet" abortion because she simply couldn't cope with having a baby (for multiple reason) and you know of the permanent damage that has been caused then I think you may feel slightly differently.

Previous to meeting her I was pro-life for myself, and pro-life for everyone else.. However knowing what she went through (and had abortion been legal she would have had it done properly and the issues she now faces for the rest of her life - not just mental but physical) made me re-think my stance and I'm now firmly pro-life for myself, pro-choice for everyone else.

I agree it is very, very sad.

However, this is the first comment from that article:
''Legalising abortion is not the solution. I had one a few years ago, it was legal and very well performed. However, no one mentions the mental struggles that a woman has to endure after the procedure. I can honestly say that this is the worst thing i have very done in my life. I think the Kenyan government should focus more on educating women on safe sex and other options besides abortion. Abortion is a easy way out that leaves most women damaged.''

Also, as you say previously there is no accurate way of knowing how many women have backstreet abortions - the 300,000 estimate is given in support of the leagalisation of abortions - it could be a vast over-estimation.

It's a shame we can't have similar stories to read from the real innocent victims of abortion, the babies, but they obviously have no voice. It is up to the rest of us (and the law of the land) to speak for them.

I read the first comment. However there are woman here on MN who have had abortions, and don't think it was the worst thing they've ever done, and don't bear and mental scars from it.

one of my exH's cousins work in a hospital in the same country that my friend had her backstreet abortion in. Sadly it is no myth that these figures could very well be not only correct, but perhaps an under estimate. She sees woman on a daily basis who are suffering from the effects of botched illegal abortions.

When you've met a woman who has been scarred pysically for life all because she really really wasn't in a position to have a baby then perhaps you'll change your mind (or maybe you won't).

With regards to the victims. Is it any "better" for them if they're born and grow up in a family where they are reminded that they were an accident? I was an "accident" - but thankfully I grew up in a secure family unit where it was only ever mentioned in a light hearted manner as I grew older.

But how many children would have to endure being told "well I didn't want you anyway" (or words to that effect?) all through their childhood. I should imagine the scars from that would be just as awful.