Someone on my Facebook friends posted a "vote" in a poll about abortion as a status update.

The reason I'm responding here is that I know that it will be transferred to FB via notes AND I have a feeling it may turn into a longer post.

I don't want to vote in the poll because I don't like that this particular poll also includes a gruesome photo of an aborted fetus with the status update.

Let's get some things straight right now: being pro-choice does not equal being pro-abortions/death. I personally am pro-choice, but I thankfully will never have to make that choice (being a man and being gay, I'll NEVER father a child). Many (I'd say most) of the people who make that choice do so after much thought. People don't just wake up one morning and decide to get pregnant JUST so they can have an abortion.

Also, even if we were to make abortion illegal again across the U.S. (which won't happen, the religious right is dying out/becoming marginalized), that doesn't mean that all abortions will cease to be performed...only LEGAL/SAFE ones. Women had abortions for hundreds/thousands of years BEFORE Roe v. Wade and they will continue to do so (it will just be made harder again).

The same people who fight for the rights of the fetus disappear when it comes time to actually raise that child (who will likely be put up for adoption). Imagine if every child who was aborted in even a single year since RvW was instead given up. Orphanages would be over run. There are states that bar people from adopting (gays/singles/older people). There are foster parents out there who aren't reputable. There are plenty of kids that no one wants to adopt because they have disabilities or other problems because their mother smoked/did drugs/had AIDS, etc. Even assuming many of these women now were to keep these children, a lot of right-to-life people also fight against welfare/job placement/food stamps/etc. assistance for this single mother (I realize that married women also have abortions...).

This problem is exacerbated when you think about the fact that many of the right-to-life people are also for abstinence only sex education, assuming that by putting their head in the sand, their own children won't be getting pregnant (and by not telling their kids about contraception, they are practically begging their horny teenagers to get pregnant).

While there may be an exception to the rule, certainly, the majority of women aren't eagerly using abortions as their primary form of birth control. The women who make this decision don't make it lightly. Some may have been raped and would not want to raise the child of the man who attacked her (especially hard on a young girl who may have been molested by her father). Some are young and would not be able to support their child (and would be disowned by their parents (see above) for being a "sinner"). Some are married women who have already had a number of children and know that their current financial situation would not be able to sustain another child. Some babies are sick/handicapped and it's honestly more humane to abort them rather than make these children (and their parents) suffer for a lifetime. Sometimes it's a matter of a choice between the life of the baby and the health/life of the mother (I'm sorry, but in that case I'd ALWAYS choose the mother).

So, in answer to the question "Should abortion be made illegal in the U.S.?" I vote "no".