When does life start (with regards to abortion)?

Some on the religious right, claim conception is the time life begins.

Then you have those who claim that it can be any one of the trimesters.

Then you have others who say when the baby is actually born.

Light the blue touchpaper and retire LOL!

I am pro choice - mainly because I am a man and can have no conception (!) of what it is to have another latent, then nascent life within me.

But to answer your question, the life of the organism begins at conception. At that point you have a fertilized egg, which will, given favourable circumstances, develop into an infant human being.

I think abortion is lawful killing. I find the thought of it disturbing and abhorrent, but I recognise that women through the ages have practiced it for many reasons, and will continue to do so. They should be able to do so safely and with non-judgemental support.

I think women should be able to choose abortion without harassment from agencies who disagree with their decision. The choice to have an abortion is never an easy one regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

I have personally face the option twice - one for perhaps purely selfish reasons and the other to stop a reoccurance of a disease. Both times I decided to continue with the pregnancy and I am happy with the decision I made.

However I have helped friends through makin that hugely painful decision. It isn't helped either by the attitude of the GP's. You would expect that if a GP was faced with a women still suffering from Post Natal Depression then they would almost certainly help to push through an abortion if the mother decided it was best.

If you do not agree with abortion then fine - your choice but don't force it down other people throats at a time when they need support. (that is those stupid groups who hang about clinics screaming "murderer" at women entering the building.)

Moon Maiden

The kind of women who stand outside clinics screaming abuse at women going in for abortions make me sick to my stomach. They most probably profess to be femenists, arguing for equality for women and yet they try to supress and control other womens rights.

Abortion is never an easy option and never something which is decided without a great deal of soul searching and heartache.

If you don't agree with it then fine, but have the decency to understand that for some women it is the only option and is something that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

OK here is a Test case for you all.

A 12 year old gets pregnant as a result of a rape by her 30 year pedophile old uncle.
she becomes pregnant as a result of the rape.
There is no dispute because the man is caught and admits his crime.

what would your own choice be:

1) should the girl if she wishes be allowed to have an abortion.
2) should she keep and then have the baby.
3) should she have and then put the baby up for adoption.
4) should the parents adopt the baby to the girl is old enough.

This as happened before so it is based on fact and is not hypothetical.
For me and I guess all pro choice the answer is certainly number 1.
Would anti abortion supporters support any of the other choice of answers or have there own solution?

There are two questions in this really.

One the girl is ineffect a child herself being only 12.
Two abortion - yes or no?

I know there are gymslip mums out there who may have coped quite well despite their age - but add to her age and inexperience the trauma of being raped and I personally feel the only option would be to have an abortion.

Moon Maiden

I think life begin at the time of conception, it must do because that is when two organism's merge into one, in one sense it is murder as that is a life although the life is not aware at that moment. We can only surmise on this unknown issue and act on our instincts.

On the question of abortion, this is a decision for the parent's and particularly the Mother and her health and well being, she should not be pressured or hounded, instead be gently helped to come to make the right choice depending on the circumstances at the time.

These vicious nutter's whe scream Murder every time a baby is aborted should be carried off to the nut house where they belong, as they cannot or will not consider any other alternative than their own narrow minded prejudices.

i don't believe that life STARTS as such. it simply continues.

women especially are born with all the eggs they will ever have, so even when a girl is born all of the possible lives she could concieve are born with her. for men and sperm this is not the case, but still i feel the same way about that.

because of the way i think of these things, saying that life begins implies that life behaves like a strobe light, on-off-on-off, which takes away from the inherent fluid nature of life.


that said, i believe abortions are absolutely the choice of the mother. of course the father has a right to be a part of the decision, but ultimately the mother is the one who carries and gives birth to the child. the final choice is hers.


as for protesters, not all but so many anti abortion/pro life arguments i've heard essentially boil down to one thing - 'it's against god's will'. so many seem oblivious to the fact that not everyone on earth is christian, so for that individual this one argument means literally nothing to them, yet they still have to put up with such organisations screaming on and on about why it's wrong FOR THEM PERSONALLY.

Have you noticed that many pro-lifers also advocate capital punishment? So human life is sacred from conception to birth, but not after...

Been only 12 years old the girl could injure her self by having a baby, so having it would probably not be a good.

Just be thankful you don't live in Eire.

Abortion is banned in every case. Rape/incest/mentally retarded/severly handicapped child on scans/10 year olds. Every possible scenario abortion is banned. What the Eire Government do is bury its head in the sand and allow them to go to a foreign country.

They not so long ago went for a reform on the abortion laws in Ireland but unfortunately on this occasion there was a big turn out on the anti abortion side and they won by quite a way. Apparently it may be around 20 years before they try again. Ireland is a beautiful country but such a backward thinking country in so many aspects and is still largely dominated by the catholic church.


There was a case in florida in the news recently, a 28 year old severly mentally retarded woman was raped and became pregnent.
There was supposed to be a court case to see if she should have an abortion. Pro life lobby will have been out in full force.

I personally have no problem with abortion as long as it takes place early on, within the first month or two. At this stage the 'baby' is only really a bunch of cells and its no worse than being on the pill or taking a morning after pill. If a mother is considering an abortion then she clearly may not be ready for motherhood so perhaps an abortion would be the best thing.

The state the britain is in today, having the choice of abortion is a good thing. The poulation is expanding, what with advances in medicine, people living longer and immigration/asylum seekers. If someone doesnt want a child and find themselves pregnant (through no fault of their own - such as the contraceptive didnt work, forgot pill, etc) then why should they have to have it. Youre not allowed one after 3 months (am i right?) anyway, and up until then the 'baby' isnt in anyway a conscious being. Best thing though is to be careful in the first place though! No drunken one night stands or sleeping around would suffice. Id say i was too young to have a baby at my age, i wouldnt know what the hell to do with it as cute as i think they are. No... not for at least another 10 years or more. Maybe if more children were born to loving families who wanted them then problems (such as the ones being discussed on another thread involving t020 and mike) wouldnt be so rife.

Originally posted by "Lickszz"

When does life start (with regards to abortion)?

Some on the religious right, claim conception is the time life begins.

Then you have those who claim that it can be any one of the trimesters.

Then you have others who say when the baby is actually born.
Religon means nothing unless you believe in it.
Abortion is a a matter of human rights and nothing else.

Originally posted by "The Cycleracer"

When does life start (with regards to abortion)?

Some on the religious right, claim conception is the time life begins.

Then you have those who claim that it can be any one of the trimesters.

Then you have others who say when the baby is actually born.
Religon means nothing unless you believe in it.
Abortion is a a matter of human rights and nothing else.

Exactly, and lots and lots of people believe in religion.

Lickzz your right they do and i have no problem with that at all, religeon in my view is the reason why there is so much war and killing in the world.
I dont want to start a debate though on this thread about religeon as its about abortion and i think that it is entirely up to the mother as long as its done in the very early stages.

At the point of conception a new life begins.

what happens after this point is either down to nature or choice by the mother (although the word mother implies care, nurturing and love) perhaps pregnant female might be a better discription.
I wonder what the percentage is of pre teen pregnancies induced by rape by paedeophile uncles?
This seems a common and extreme argument for pro abortionists.
In this maze of highly complex issues and emotions who's right and who's wrong?
And what of the child?
It may as yet have not felt a breeze on it's cheek
or gazed upon a bright blue sky
or breathed in fresh air on it's first breath
it may have not had the opportunity to kick out within the womb
before it's future is finished.

In seeing threads like this I can't help but look back over many years and realise that the decisions made by my wife and I were the right ones for us. The hard times, challenges and the struggles that we faced as young parents were, it seems, at times insurmountable.
My eldest will celebrate her 22nd birthday and go on for a post grad in law while I still hover within the 40th, my wife is a year behind me.
When does life start?
I don't think it does. With our children we all contiue.