I must say that I am very disturbed by both posts below. I know this is
Ecolog and not an abortion debate forum, but to me the posts indicate that the
woman in question did something "wrong" by exercising her choice to terminate
her pregnancy. Women all over the world make this decision for a variety of
reasons. Further, I would argue that choosing to do so due to her deeply held
environmental values is one of the more well thought out reasons for
terminating a pregnancy that I have heard. Concern for the environment is
hardly "a flippant justification for abortion", in my opinion. Especially
considering the fact that the woman had taken active measures to prevent a
pregnancy in the first place.
Marie Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I completely agree with Laura. The
fact that this woman had an abortion
to reduce her carbon footprint is quite scary. I think her choice to,
after this occurrence, search out a doctor to perform a sterility
procedure to definitively prevent any future pregnancies was a very good
choice to perpetuate her interesting but understandable desire to help
reduce her carbon footprint. But, I do not think reducing your carbon
footprint should be a flippant justification for abortion. When you start
putting "Being Green" and "Being Eco" above human life, the line gets
really fuzzy.
> While a childfree lifestyle may be a valid and important ethical choice
> (though probably a freedom for only a portion of the female population in
> this world), the woman in the article that started this discussion chose
> to
> terminate a pregnancy using the save the planet rationale (as I
> recall). Using "saving the planet" as an incentive or rationale to
> terminate a pregnancy is ethically and morally scary path. Furthermore,
> more could be accomplished by educating people, providing contraception
> and
> changing cultural practices in developing nations than terminating
> pregnancies in nations where birth control is for the most part a broadly
> accepted and relatively easy practice.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"
(Hanlon's razor)
