Women regularly died from pregnancy and childbirth throughout the course of human history. It is still not without medical complications - we just have better medicine and procedures to deal with the risks. But they still require dealing with, and dealing with them is still costly, restrictive and oftentimes painful. Childbirth is commonly described as amongst the most painful experiences a human being can withstand.

The fact that many women have undergone the procedure just shows how much suffering and (pun not intended) labour so many women have undergone, not that the suffering and labour can be somehow discounted. You seem to think because it's common, and because many women decide the benefit is worth the cost, it's obviously ridiculous to talk about the medical risks even in those cases where women might feel it's not worth the cost. Common sense and medical professionals will tell you that both the short-term and long-term burdens that may arise from pregnancy and childbirth are much more substantial than those arising from abortion: but in any case, shouldn't it be the person who undergoes the procedure who gets to weigh them up?

In other words, you are replicating the flaw in Ms. Tan's argument, which I sought to point out in that letter, which sees the costs to women of pregnancy and childbirth as nil or negligible.

- Jolene (www.glass-castle.org)
Jolene | Homepage | 03/08/08 - 12:30 am | #

Given that I am not for banning abortion and not ignoring the costs of pregnancy and childbirth, I have no idea what you're talking about.

If you only follow the principle that "I have no right to be forced to bear any non-negligible cost involuntarily", that would justify, among other things:

- Tax evasion
- Refusing immunization
- Draft dodging
- Abandoning your children
- Instant divorce ("I divorce you. I divorce you. I divorce you." - and you're divorced)
- Refusing to live in Beijing when your company posts you there (health pollution)

See also shlim205's response to your post on YR, which I have appended to this blog post.
Agagooga | Homepage | 03/08/08 - 3:50 pm | #