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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!lanl!sas
From: sas@lanl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Stand firm on your position.
Message-ID: <29057@lanl.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 31-Jul-85 13:20:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: lanl.29057
Posted: Wed Jul 31 13:20:16 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Aug-85 08:04:13 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 50


	It would be interesting to see where each of you ( the more
flambouyant ones ) really stand.  It appears to me that a lot of pro-
choicers are playing devils advocate and demanding that someone prove
them wrong when they don't really believe exactly what they say.  

	Most of the pro-choice people I know will admit that they have
not and probably would not ever have an abortion.  At the same time 
they are not willing to give-up/take-away the right to do so if they
wanted to.  I am proud to know people like this who are defending
the rights of people to choose while respecting the life of the unborn.
I presume that most of you who rant and rave about how worthless the
"parasitic non-living fetus" is don't really believe this.  I expect
that for most of you this is only relative to the value of choice and
self-determination.  One doesn't completely invalidate the other.

	I am disturbed by the polarizing effect of some of the
inflammatory statements being made on both sides.  I believe that
the abortion issue is a delicate balance between life and choice.
To run too far to one side or the other does nothing to achieve
this balance.  To exagerate your position to try to nullify the
effect of a radical on the other side only leads to more polarization.
It would be nice to see more people take a firm stand EXACTLY
where they feel they need to be and then listen VERY carefully to
the others who are standing EXACTLY where they believe is correct.

	Only after everyone agrees to try to be reasonable and to
listen and to possibly accept another point of view can we hope to
begin to improve our understanding.

	As long as we are name-calling (The president is an ASSHOLE,
you are a JERK, abortion is MURDER, etc.) the issue will remain so
cloudy that noone will make an inch of progress toward a better
understanding.

	I have been participating in this newsgroup because it is
an issue that is very important to me but I have no desire to listen
to the views of two highly polarized factions.  This is not to say
that NO reasonable views have been aired here nor that ALL unreasonable
statements have been made by unreasonable people.  It is possible that
all of us are reasonable, we are just letting the adrenaline take over.

	Now that MY adrenaline is taking over I suppose I should shut
up and hope that this newsgroup will look less like net.flame.


					Steve Smith

P.S. Thanks to those who responded to my last posting (positive and
negative), by mail and followup.  Most were reasonable, I have hope.