[dr2005]

Originally Posted by her_beautiful_mistake

Sorry, what is the question? I'll answer as well as I can. Sometimes my own views on these issues aren't 100% formed. Although I have issues my views seem to be quite fixed on I do try to be as fluid as possible, you never know where you'll read something that will change your mind.

No worries. The gist of it was "how much importance or weight do people place on the 'own bodies' argument, and how far can they willingly apply that argument?" The references to alcohol and drugs were aimed as springboards to get people thinking about those points and to see how much of a bearing it had on people's application of that argument. The answers you gave pretty much covered that - I just asked it in a more oblique way than was probably necessary. Blame the law degree for that.

Originally Posted by her_beautiful_mistake

I think one of the problems with abortion is that is SUCH a complex issue.. it's not something that I want to support, it's not something that I only have one or two reasons for supporting. "People should be able to do what they wish with their bodies" is not one of my arguments in support of abortion.

Agreed - it is one of the most complicated ethical dillemmas that exist and there is no easy answer. The reason I picked out the "own bodies" one is that, aside from the possible scientific objections, it's a line that's come up quite frequently in debates (not just here but generally) and it's one that tends to be used without necessarily being qualified or elaborated upon. Hence the question aimed at both. There are no easy arguments either for or against abortion and the most durable ones are those which come from a variety of reasons as you suggest.

Originally Posted by her_beautiful_mistake

Would you support making abortion illegal, or do you just believe it to be morally wrong?

I've come to the conclusion that making it illegal is not a practical option right now. Much as I find it morally wrong, I recognise that simply making it illegal will not solve anything and may cause more harm in the long run. I would like to believe that by massively improving our sex education and societal approach to family and sexual relations (both of which I feel, compared with our European neighbours, are pretty below par) the need for abortion will decline to the point where it's only needed in exceptional circumstances, but how likely that is to happen within my own lifetime is very much debatable.

Originally Posted by her_beautiful_mistake

I support the legalisation of drugs out of the necessity for it (so I suppose yes the points I made for alcohol could equally be used for drugs). Similarly, I believe abortion has to be legal out of necessity, even if you do not agree morally with abortion, do you agree with that?

As with the above, I feel at the moment it is legal out of necessity. Like I said, though, I hope that through improvements in education and advances in contraception (for example better development of implants) that its necessity will decrease over time. I would support moves to limit the availability of abortions in certain circumstances, but despite my own religious views I feel recriminalisation is not the answer.

Originally Posted by her_beautiful_mistake

I do not think abortion is an easy decision, I don't think I would be able to have one (now - 10 months ago I'd have told you something different) but of course I've never been in that position and so I can't really say. Hypothetically saying "I would/would not have an abortion" means very little.

Again I agree - it's very easy to say something when you're not in that situation yourself. Despite my personal objections to abortion I would like to feel I would still support someone I knew if they ended up in that situation and not to lecture them about their choices. Ultimately someone in that position needs support, not castigation. In the wider context though all we can really do is talk about it hypothetically and try to come up with good reasoning for our point of view.