Reply #33: Here's my question about "all or nothing".

[Jackie97]

Most people who read my posts realize that I advocate unlimited abortion rights. I think that no matter how one "feels" about abortion in the third trimester, that it needs to stay between a woman and her doctor. Furthermore, there's no proof that the third trimester fetus is a person and even more proof is proving lately that it's not a person.

However, here's the question I'm having about this issue. It's this quote that makes me think about it more.

"Rights ARE all-or-nothing. You have them, or you don't. If you have them, your exercise of them might be justifiably subject to limitations. But you do not defend your rights, let alone anyone else's, by offering to give a little bit, or a lot, of them away."

Even though advocates of abortion rights have to push for all in order to get any of their rights at all, we know the politicians can't give it all to us right now. Too many people cannot get it through their heads that the third trimester fetus isn't proven to be a person and that third trimester abortions only are done on women whose life is in danger or who have a defected fetus anyway.

Most Americans are pro-choice in the first trimester (when 90% of abortions take place), but I normally have a hard time talking to somebody about the concept of allowing third trimester abortion.

All John Kerry did was say that he didn't sign the "partial birth abortion" bill because it didn't include exceptions for the life of the mother. For that, he was considered to be some kind of bloody baby killer who had to be voted against.

I have a slight fear that if our politicians demand all or nothing, we'll end up with nothing. We'll lose out on having all abortion legal in the U.S. just because most of America's too stupid to grasp the issues behind third trimester abortion.

I understand that abortion rights advocates have to keep pushing for all of their rights, but I have a problem with saying "or nothing". I'd hate for the 90% of women having first trimester abortions to miss out on their rights just because I insist that the less than one percent of third trimester abortions be thrown in there. I'm all for advocating that abortion rights be unlimited. I'm all for advocating the word "all". I guess I just have a fear of the use of the words "or nothing".

Not that any of this matters since most of the Democrats will only support abortion rights as much as they have to, and we'll keep voting for them anyway.

I guess my question is whether demanding the part "or nothing" is a good idea.

I guess I'm thinking more like a politician than like an advocate lately. I keep thinking we might have to comprimise things for a while to bring the US back to the center before we can go all the way and bring them to the left. Most of the US is already in the center. I'd just hate for them to go far to the right because they're too stupid to realize that leftists are not extremists.

I paint a lovely picture of Americans don't I? I'm not anti-American though. I've been thinking about how other countries are stupid as heck too. Or as George Carlin would say (paraphrasing) "You are all diseased!"