Ethical question about abortion protesters

[fields316_2000]

I am personally against abortion. right off the bat. but thats not what this thread is about. my question is what is ethical behavior for anti abortionists?

Like I said I'm against abortion, but today i was deeply bothered by something i seen some protesters do. I was out side a medical clinic driving down the street, and there were signs staged all around the building that read 'give me a hand not death'..and a picture of a baby holding onto a man's hand.

the next picture made me sick. it was a picture of a premature baby 's head with his / her eyes closed (as if screaming) in between tongs, with the rest of his / her face mangled like hamburger meat over a table with the words 'this clinic kills babys'.

now im against abortion, but this pissed me off and made me sick. and the guys responsible for the signs / protest were out side smiling and drinking coffee.

I thought about asking them to remove the signs because I was offended. but then the thought came across my mind that perhaps that offense is what they were aiming to do to push thier positon on someone that is sitting on the fence. Personally i think it isnt necessary. but im conflicted because it's such a touchy subject..what do ya'll think?

 

[ARon]

It's just shock. They got what they were aiming for I'm guessing. That's like someone protesting the war putting up pictures of wounded soldiers missing limbs and such. From the way you describe the second picture I think that might be a bit overboard but it gives a powerful message to those who would be shocked by it. You know, oh my god they do that to babies type thing, how horrible, blah blah. I'm sure it worked for some people, I'd probably just ignore it.

 

[critikaldesignz]

Anti abortionists don't like the thought of killing babies, what if the woman was raped?

 

[fields316_2000]

well thats a different subject. it's not about if abortion is right or wrong, its about ethical ways of protesting. that made me sick despite shock value...

 

[FroDawgg]

i think any tactic that is not threatening to anyone else is fine. i'm anti-abortion, but i would never walk into a clinic and shoot it up or bomb it...that's hypocritical. i'm anti-abortion cuz i'm pro life. i would never do anything to hurt or kill another human being. those people who do that stuff are sick.

Anti abortionists don't like the thought of killing babies, what if the woman was raped?

i think that even if a woman is raped, she should have the baby. if she doesn't want it, give it up for adoption. don't punish the baby b/c of something some asshole did. the baby did nothing wrong.

 

[Glockmatic]

its the same tactic PETA uses, disgust the people to get their point across

 

[RFTP]

Anti abortionists don't like the thought of killing babies, what if the woman was raped?

Well the baby shouldn't be punished cause somebody else comitted a crime/mistake. But the eternal question remains; when is it a baby?

 

[Sebastian]

i think that even if a woman is raped, she should have the baby. if she doesn't want it, give it up for adoption. don't punish the baby b/c of something some asshole did. the baby did nothing wrong.

yeah, and tell him/her later on that his/her biological father is a rapist or in other words that he or she is the product of rape...

 

[RFTP]

yeah, and tell him/her later on that his/her biological father is a rapist or in other words that he or she is the product of rape...

And he would react bad cause of that? We can't be sure of that cause none of us are products of rapists and us talking here how they would feel doesn't mean that he/she will feel like that. Sorry but there are people that are born under alot worse conditions, poverty ,disfunctional etc etc. Sure it's not a happy thought knowing you came only cause of a rapist but that thought is more forgiving (I think) then beeing one of them who has these weird diseases. Of course this is just my opinion and as I stated earlier, it doesn't mean that this is how he/she would react but in my view there are worse ways to be born then beeing born cause of a rapist.

 

[AmerikazMost]

I hate these tactics. A group did this shit on campus one day. Those pictures aren't going to do anything to make me change my stance on it. I'll just lose my appetite for a little.

 

[Shahin]

Using shock-tactics when you have no valid argument is pretty effective I guess.

 

[fields316_2000]

showing pictures like that to shock people into your way of thinking is like showing kids hardcore porn pics in order to say 'wait until you are married'.
what they did was shock and awe both sides without really reaching anyone with a logical argument. it kinda pissed me off and ruined my day

 

[FroDawgg]

yeah, and tell him/her later on that his/her biological father is a rapist or in other words that he or she is the product of rape...

and that would make the kid any less important how?

 

[Sebastian]

Reading probelm? I never said it would make the kid less important, my post was obviously aimed at the psychological problems which could occure in these circumstances.

In your previous post you said "dont punsih the kid for something some asshole did" and i say "dont blame the woman for something an asshole did to her because she didnt do anything wrong either". If she feels uncomfortable giving birth to this kid she should be allowed to have an abortion.

 

[FroDawgg]

^^^i understand what you mean, but the way you presented it sounded like, "it will cause a lot of psychological problems, so it's better to just forgo that by not giving the child a chance to live". you might not mean it that harshly, but it sounded like you were implying that.

 

[Morris]

They do it because it puts a face to a statistic. Instead of thinking about aborted babies in numbers, you actually see what happens.

Of course, most pictures are the product of partial birth abortions, whereas most abortions occur well before the third trimester.

I'm pro choice, and I think if a baby cannot survive outside of the woman's womb, then it's the woman's choice.

 

[Amara]

I thought about asking them to remove the signs because I was offended. but then the thought came across my mind that perhaps that offense is what they were aiming to do to push thier positon on someone that is sitting on the fence. Personally i think it isnt necessary. but im conflicted because it's such a touchy subject..what do ya'll think?

I think I'd probably take offence too, but imagery is more effective than words. I'd liken it to the anti-smoking campaigns showing a brain sliced open with blood clots inside, the fat in the aorta walls and tar in lungs... graphic images, pretty gross but it has a more potent affect than the words alone.

Talking about facts or morality or the philosophy of the beginnings of life wont make it real for a lot of people. And in nation states where political communication is (constitutionally) free it's a side of the argument people should consider whether they agree or not.

 

[_carmi]

controversy works.

 

[Katarina]

I believe abortions need to be legal for the simple fact that if a woman does not want to have a baby she's not going to have it. By making abortions illegal you're going to have women hurting themselves by sticking things into their vagina such as knives etc, pouring acid into themselves, having people kick them in the stomach trying to kill the fetus... This is not speculation, this actually happens.

It's funny how some of you in this thread (men) believe that being pregnant is just something you are for nine months and then a baby pops out which you will easily be able to just give away. I was only pregnant for six weeks and I have never been that sick in my entire life nor have I felt worse when the thing that was growing inside me just wasn't there anymore.

 

[troublesome2004]

I'm against abortion but I also believe in freedom of choice. I think it's a murder but at the end we shouldn't try to force anybody. That will be another punishment more. Our society is full of duplicity. System takes right to decide what's good and what's not. So, sending troops which kill innocent kids and torture people in Iraq is OK but abortion is not. Where's is sense in that? And, propaganda is sticky thing but I don't approve things like this.