Amanda proves, yet again why she doesn't understand pro-life arguments.
To say the right not just to abortion but contraception is important because I need it to be the full person that I can be, and I am a person of value is to cause palpitations of anxiety, and probably guffaws of contempt from the right. But I think by starting from that place of assurance that our own lives are valuable, it’s the best place to make that moral argument. It’s why having daughters can be such a major influence on politicians’ views on these things---to have a daughter whose value is immediate and unquestionable to you clarifies why the rights of women who actually exist trump the mythical rights of those who don’t.
Emphasis hers.
I think that Amanda's argument just shows how little she knows about parenting in general and parenting girls in particular. Having contraception didn't make me a "full person." Being a person who accepted the consequences of my decisions, used the talents God gave me, and tried to mesh my personal goals and desires with outside obligations made me a full person.
The central problem for pro-choice women is that they want sex to be consequence-free. That is, like men who get out of bed, zip up their pants, and go off to do whatever they want. That's what pro-choice women think sex is about. But, fair or otherwise, that's not what sex is about for women, which is why women have to think about pregnancy when they have sex. With or without contraception.
Lots of women find ways to be "full persons" after having children. And lots of women discover that having children makes them--dare I say it?--"full persons." When pro-lifers argue about the lives of unborn women, it's not just an abstract or weak argument. It hits home, especially once you start having daughters of your own.
UPDATE: Reading through the comments of Amanda's post can be quite enlightening. They believe abortion should always be available until a child is born. That's the argument we should force them to make at the Democratic National Convention. Not this "safe, legal, and rare" fluff.
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