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From: das@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: you and I
Message-ID: <686@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 6-Aug-84 13:42:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.686
Posted: Mon Aug  6 13:42:58 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Aug-84 00:48:48 EDT
References: <911@shark.UUCP> <9283@gatech.UUCP>, <630@ucla-cs.ARPA> <267@rocksvax.UUCP>
Organization: UCLA CS Dept.
Lines: 27

...
I said:
    >I don't believe in an absolute right to life for every conceived human
    >being, a right which outweighs *every* other consideration that does not
    >significantly endanger another human's life.  Social convenience
    >sometimes *does* take precedence ...
James Ziobro replies:
   >>...       It seems more and more Americans(people?) are giving a
   >>higher value to "convenience" and indeed those who persue personal
   >>convenience are being praised!  ...

"Convenience" may have been the wrong word for me to use, since it carries
connotations of having trivial reasons.  By "social convenience" I meant
to include the weightier issues, such as allocation of social resources.
I guess I thought that was clear from the rest of my posting.

Maybe I'm reading something into the phrase about praising the pursuit of
personal convenience, but let me restate what I said in my original posting:
Many women who have explained their reasons for having an abortion have made
it clear the decision was not a capricious one.

On another note, who is familiar with Japanese attitudes on abortion?  The
Pill is illegal in Japan (for health reasons), and I'm not sure of the
legality of other non-rhythm methods, but my understanding is that abortion
is the most commonly used non-rhythm birth-control method in Japan.  (I think
the situation is the same in the Soviet Union, but I want to compare the U.S.
to a culture that has not been affected strongly by Christianity.)