<p>girls and their hair… pffft. JK! JK! JK! cira, don’t freak out! whaddya wanna talk about?</p>
<p>I’m back.
Debate ideas, anyone?</p>
<p>Am I the only girl who just rolls out of bed, grabs a chunk of hair and sticks it in a ponytail? Wow, I must be an even bigger loser than I thought.</p>
<p>I used to do that. Now I’m vain. I just like doing what’s best for me, and right now I think that feeling pretty is kind of high up there for my overall well being. My hair is a big part of that. Not so big a part of it that I could be bothered to get up and do it in the morning, however. (:</p>
<p>Hmmm… Debates… We haven’t done abortion or gay marriage, but we’re all pretty liberal so they’d be short-lived, I think.</p>
<p>i’m kinda on the conservative side of liberal on abortion. i believe in pro-choice, but i think that in the aspect of abortion, it should be available for things like rape and only in the first trimester. people should take responsibility for their actions (i kno, i’ve said that like 10,000 times in this thread) and there is always adoption</p>
<p>It’s really hard emotionally to give a kid up for adoption, and the foster care system is screwed up enough already without an influx of babies whose mothers can’t take care of them. Teenage pregnancy, especially, is so hard on the mother… She has to deal with being pregnant and being in school, having people talk about her all the time. The guy doesn’t have to go through that. It’s so different for him. She starts to feel like the baby is all she has, so she keeps it and drops out of school. For a lot of very poor families, it makes more economic sense to stay home and get welfare rather than work and pay for childcare. The child’s life won’t be what it could be- destitution takes a toll on people. His mother didn’t finish high school- why should he?</p>
<p>If she could have had an abortion, it would be better for society in general. Economists believe that the legalization of abortion led to the drop in overall crime in the 90’s.</p>
<p>I know someone who had an abortion in the 2nd trimester, I believe, because a number of shrinks felt that she was “mentally unfit” to give birth, i.e. the post-partum depression and chemical imbalances would make her suicidal. What about cases like that?</p>
<p>I am pro-choice, for the most part, although I really don’t like the idea of partial birth abortion, except in cases where the woman’s health is in danger, the baby won’t survive anyway, etc. I guess the argument is that if women don’t have safe and legal options for abortion, they will find unsafe and illegal methods to do it, making the problem even worse.</p>
<p>If anyone has read “Freakonomics” (or other economic studies) did you find Levitt’s logic for the decline in crime rates to make sense? <– Earil beat me!!</p>
<p>I honestly think that abortions are immoral and shouldn’t happen. I’m with D-Yu as far as thinking that people NEED to take responsibility for their actions.</p>
<p>That being said:</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly, 100% do NOT think the government has the right to dictate whether or not a woman can have a surgery. It simply doesn’t make sense. The government should stay out of the way of forcing morals onto people. Instead, abortion should be looked at as a choice that is up to the people, not the government.</p>
<p>instead of making laws allowing abortion, the government should improve foster care, cut welfare to non-working people (you guys already know my stance on that) and just produce better contraception. make it so that people will think twice about pregnancy instead of letting them think that “o well i just get an abortion”</p>
<p>abortion is a medical technique, plain and simple. unfortunately, it involves the taking of life, therefore morals, then the government has to budge in. you’re not hurting anyonen else (except the baby) when you abort. it’s a personal decision, not a legal/political one.</p>
<p>The whole idea of partial birth abortions never really made sense to me. Why carry the fetus for nine months, go through the pain of labor and giving birth, and then abort? Did you very suddenly change your mind?</p>
<p>I think so, Fridge.</p>
<p>No one thinks “Oh well, I’ll just get an abortion.”</p>
<p>Abortions are harder financially and emotionally on nearly everyone in this country than contraceptives.</p>
<p>Elmo- I think the government should push IUD’s as well as condoms, not the Pill. You can’t forget to take it or throw it up! You don’t even have to think about it, you don’t have to worry about getting drunk and forgetting to use a condom, whatever. You’re covered.</p>
<p>I don’t think that very many people believe that abortion is perfectly morally okay. But a woman’s freedom to control her own body is integral to the protection of her unalienable rights.</p>
<p>I personally don’t believe that an embryo is a “true” human yet, but obviously I’m not a fan of abortion. People need to learn to use contraception and birth control. But a woman’s body is her body.</p>
<p>Crap, we’ve stalled.</p>
<p>How about the notification bit, where minors have to notify their parents if they have an abortion?</p>
<p>I don’t understand why non-issues such as abortion and gay rights have infiltrated political dialogue to such an extensive degree. The government should be going over more important issues than whether homosexuals are God’s curse upon humanity.</p>
<p>A few months ago, I read in the paper about a guy who murdered a doctor an abortion clinic for in revenge for all the embryos he aborted, and I was like ***?!? How is abortion any worse than actually killing someone? It’s amazing what extremes some people will go to if they are fanatical enough about an issue.</p>
<p>Earil -
The parents /should/ be notified, no question. Isn’t there some kind of liability regarding operations on minors anyway? And we all know minors have no rights in this country regardless.</p>
<p>with so much contraceptive out there, patches, IUD’s, pills, etc is abortion really that necessary? if you remove abortion as an option, unless of like rape, people would be much more inclined to use contraceptive</p>
<p>but, as a guy, it’s harder for me to place myself in context</p>
<p>minors should your a minor for a reason. you got pregnant irresponsibly not because your level headed, but because you got stupid and didnt think it through (obviously not every case).
and i have read freakonomics but i forgot most of it 
and as for hair i dont care i wake up, shake out my weave and get a move on. im not big on appearance, though i love shopping.</p>
<p>and you would think so elmo but people are lazy. and when it comes down to it, and they are facing the morning after what if’s. they will probably think i can still fix this, i could get an abortion ( in no way do i have this mindset, but it is one that is out there). there is also the morning after pill. people need to get on point.</p>
<p>So, when one turns eighteen, they’re magically gifted with the powers of privacy and the ability to buy cigarettes and pr0n and vote?</p>
<p>I think some people also lobby for notification for the morning after pill, which I think is ridiculous. It’s a contraceptive, not an abortion pill.</p>
<p>Also, who should be responsible for contraception? My male friends think that it’s the girl’s business, but no girl I know would be caught buying condoms, I’m pretty sure.</p>
<p>ok 18 doesnt make us magically gifted but the government put us out on or own then. and dont forget the ability to fight wars cira.
and most people i know think it isnt their business. some people see it as slutty and not responsible to have condoms on you if your a girl.</p>
<p>and the government gets bogged down on this stuff because they dont want to discuss the real issues.</p>
<p>18 is just an arbitrary number. But you have to draw the line somewhere, and most people become (somewhat) economically independent shortly before/after 18. I think some of the reasoning is that at 18, you can be drafted for the military…so 18-year-olds should have same rights as other adults.</p>
<p>Of course, some people mature much earlier than 18, and others never mature at all.</p>