Issues: `Letters: Legalized abortion?'

Wed, 11/04/2009 1:32 PM  |  Reader's Forum

I commend Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, Buddhists and Hindus who have joined together to protest the liberalizing of Indonesia's health law that rules abortion. Although the bill was approved by the country's parliament last month, it still needs to be signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. I hope the President will act with moral clarity and veto this shameful law. Legalized abortion is a true ecological disaster that has been unleashed throughout the globe and will create a "planet of death". This is a true ecological disaster, which affects the unborn child, the mother who has conceived him, the different people involved in the issue (the baby's father, the grandparents, health care workers, etc.) and all of society that will suffer from its negative impact.

Since the legalization of abortion, millions of children have not been born, who would today be millions of young people, which the world desperately needs as the population is prematurely aging and is dying of sadness and despair. Legalized abortion is a right protected by a false freedom that leads women to commit violence against their own bodies. Psychologically, each one of these mothers will be wounded for life.

Your comments:
Abortion supports the right of women to choose? I know women who have had abortions and many of them still regret their decision. They had an abortion not because they chose to, because they knew it was their right to decide what to do with their body, but because they did not see any alternative to solve their problems, being unmarried and pregnant, or being poor and pregnant with an unwanted child.

These women's regrets are so deep they cannot get over it, even after they are married and have "legal" children. If this proabortion law is for the sake of women, we should perform a survey designed for women who have had an abortion. Were they satisfied after the abortion? Did they feel their rights had been fulfilled? Would they have chosen abortion if other options had been presented to them, like adoption after the birth of the baby?

Cherry
New York

I'm pro-choice, women should have the freedom to decide whether she wants an abortion or not. If she's not ready for parenthood (through unwanted pregnancy, rape, contraceptive failure, economic problems) then it's her decision, not yours. By making abortion illegal, there's a big market for illegal abortion clinics.

These clinics probably have low sanitation levels, nonstandard procedures and incompetent staff, which is dangerous but it won't stop women from going there if abortion is illegal. Family planning is the key, young people should be taught about contraceptive measures to avoid getting pregnant or impregnating someone. The world is overpopulated.

Ryan Octavianus
Jakarta

I too am pro-choice. We must free and trust all people and especially women to make the best decisions on family planning.

Passing laws that force women to seek illegal, back-alley abortions will only harm women, not reduce abortion.

Often, abortion is a more intelligent, compassionate and moral decision that having the child.

The decision must remain that of the individual woman. After all, she is the one who has to carry it to term, go through what could be a painful, risky and dangerous delivery and then struggle with the challenges of raising too many children with too few resources. Laws that discriminate against women, such as anti-abortion laws, are really anti-women in their result if not in their intent.

The emancipation of women demands that women have the right to fully control their fertility. The government has no business in the bedroom and no business in women's bodies.

Bruce Elniski
Alberta, Canada

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.