Are feminists pro choice?

[MrGHardy]

Of course I would have thought. But can you believe women should have authority over their own bodies, but at the same time believe the arguments on the pro life side? That once conceived, a human will result and you can't kill humans (or variations of this pro life argument). While I don't agree with it, I can see why some people would.

Feminist and pro choice here

In all honesty i cant understand the anti side. I mean fine, dont like abortion, dont have one and i support your right in that but why should any other person get a say in what happens to another womans body. If a woman wants to abort, its her choice, if she wants to gestate, its her choice

I think the argument is that those cells inside are already a human, and killing it is hence murder.

Not that I agree with it, but on an emotional level people holding that view, I can at least see where they are coming from.

And yes, I would assume that you are pro choice. I was just curious if they are because to them it's solely a matter of women's rights, or if they also think about the "is it already human vs it's not human yet". Because those two can be independent of each other.

Not sure how feminist I count as. Maybe a larval stage feminist

Absolutely pro choice though!

Women have enough to deal with without being forced to have babies .

I'm a feminist and pro-choice.

As a pp mentioned up-thread, I'm not pro-abortions, I'm pro-choice and it's important to me that women should have the right to decide what happens to their bodies, especially when the decision has the potential to impact them personally in a number of hugely significant ways, often for the rest of their lives.

The notion of bringing in conservative/religious views of what women 'should' do with a fertilised egg inside of them (and when such an egg should be regarded as a human life) and of letting this override a woman's wishes is completely unpalatable to me.

Since many religions that oppose abortion are inherently patriarchal, I shouldn't imagine there's that much crossover between feminists and people with strongly-held religious views. Ditto re non-religious conservatives.

For me, the natural result of pro-life legislation is that women's reproductive systems (and by extension, their lives) are controlled by the state in a way that men's are not.

The key is the word choice i.e. it's up to individual women what they choose to do with with a pregnancy. If she believes in the sanctity of life from conception then that's entirely her choice. But we, as feminists, recognise that different women are capable of making their own minds up about whether or not to continue a pregnancy.

No woman should be forced to gestate.
I do not believe that a child exists from the point of conception. And even if you do, you then have to explain the eugenics issue with antenatal testing.
Why bother, if all life is valuable?

Me. I'm a feminist and pro life.

No difficulty here in holding both views. I don't think any right is absolute. There are lots of situations where one right is in conflict with another and a compromise has to be made e.g. free speech vs. "hate" speech. To me, the baby's right to life easily trumps the mother's right to autonomy over her body unless the mother's own life is at threat.

Hmmm. I'm a feminist and also pro choice within certain boundaries. However, while I am not against early abortions, I do think at a certain number of weeks' gestation it's reasonable to consider the foetus a human rather than a collection of cells. The current law, guidelines & practice are probably about right in my view.

Ah. Zombie thread...

I think being a feminist and being pro life are incompatible.

I don't think the right to life is absolute, when sustaining that life impacts upon an individual's bodily autonomy. We don't force people to donate their kidneys or their bone marrow or blood because others have the right to life. Expecting a woman to unwillingly donate her body for 9 months and jeopardise her physical and mental health is no more acceptable.