The Abortion Issue

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As with all issues, this emotional issue has two sides. Based on the reactions of both sides, they are not listening to each-other. Insulting those with whom you disagree has become common, but there is a better way to resolve contrary opinions on any issue – the way of discussion.

Why do mothers choose Abortion? They are essentially three categories of reasons.

REASONS FOR CHOOSING ABORTION.

The first, and most common category, is for the convenience of the mother at the time of pregnancy. Inconvenient reasons include the mother’s: age, education, poverty, physical state, mental state, emotional state, etc.

The second category is that the baby is wanted, but the mother’s life is in danger if the baby continues to live during the pregnancy. Therefore, a difficult choice must be made between saving the mother’s life or saving the child’s. The third category is that the baby will not be able to survive independently as an adult.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISSUE.

The other side of this issue is the belief that each person has an eternal soul from the moment of conception. That soul cannot be destroyed. To those who believe this, abortion for convenience is the murder of their fellow human beings.

We are normally concerned when we hear about students being killed in a school shooting in the US, or the slaughter of civilians in the war in Ukraine. We are concerned because we see the victims as our fellow human beings. Slavery worked across generations because our fore-parents were perceived as less than human – and not the victims.

LISTENING TO EACH OTHER.

Both sides of this issue may feel the trauma of a mother, who is faced with the decision of aborting her baby so that she may live. Anyone may express an opinion on this matter. But only the mother has the right to make the final decision – which should never be judged by another human being. In Florida (where such statistics are measured), this amounted to 0.2% of abortions in 2020.

If a woman is raped, then again, while anyone may express an opinion on this matter, only the mother has the right to make the final decision. In Florida, rape and incest amounted to 0.16% of abortions in 2020.

If a baby is unable to develop to live independently, then the community must decide whether they will materially support those children from the cradle to the grave. That decision should help the mother make her decision. In Florida, serious abnormality of the baby amounted to 0.98% of abortions in 2020. Abortion for convenience consists of over 95% of the abortions in the US.

BARBADOS AND THE USA.

In Barbados, abortion for convenience is illegal [1]. Abortion is only allowed: (i) if the mother may die or be gravely injured by continuing the pregnancy, (ii) for rape or incest, or (iii) if the child were born, he/she would be seriously handicapped.

Barbados materially supports the disabled community. Barbados has also determined that a person has the right to life from the moment of conception, and no person can be arbitrarily deprived of that right [2].

Regardless of your opinion on abortion, we should pause to remember the over 60 million babies in the US, that were aborted for convenience since 1973 – when abortion for convenience was made legal. It was easy for adults to justify those abortions, once they convinced themselves that children still in their mothers’ wombs had no right to live.

Grenville Phillips II is a Chartered Structural Engineer. He can be reached at NextParty246@gmail.com

[1] Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, Section 4.
[2] American Convention on Human Rights, Article 4.

126 thoughts on “The Abortion Issue”


  2. MMMM africa makes a good point and I see how she has tied the economy, politics , and abortion together its easy not having to rejuvenate your vagina when your always getting it stuck up your ass

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  3. Lawson…saw your friend looking all fine and dandy recently…

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  5. Magnificent a.k.a Magno – Yu Heard Formula: C₂₁H₃₀O₂ IUPAC ID: (−)-(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl- 3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro- 6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol on said:

    Pause for the Cause
    Women on Top
    Women in America (aka AmeriKKKa) are still as angry as fuck and are planning a “No Buy July” protest which goes against their deeper instinct to go mad shopping and will hit “them” in pocket to bring down the economy of the patriarchy.
    Regarding the sex thing although they have a big gaping hole that must be filled to feel truly fulfilled and satisfied with no cravings with a daily morning ride, they will be using sybian machines instead of man in a sex toy collective.

    Morning Ride

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  6. @Pachamama June 29, 2022 2:05 PM “We see that everybody in the world is the same age today – 2022. Year of birth plus age, equals 2022. A once in a 1000 year event, numerical equation.”

    Not really.

    This only works for people born in the first half of the year. It does not work for the 4 billion or so people born from 1 July to 31 December.

    For example my friend was born late July 1973, so is 48 now
    1973+48=2021

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  7. @TLSN June 29, 2022 3:35 PM “R. Kelly given 30 years prison sentence. His wings have been clipped.”

    I wonder if R, Kelly ever heard of:

    Icarus
    Ya can hide and buy ground, but ya can’t hide and work it
    Night does run ’till day ketch ‘e
    Wha’ sweeten goat mou’t does bun ‘e tail
    The longest rope has an end
    What’s done in the dark will come to light
    For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light

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  8. BU Rum Shop Analysis (Slave Master and Slaves Relationship)
    I wonder if the Doctor Teacher Preacher patronises white people with same inane religious psycho babble when making arguments
    I suspect not
    He is clear proof that the Bible is used as Slave Code for Better Ordering of Negroes in Barbados

    Ephesians 6:5-8 Paul states, “Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ”

    Colossians 3:22-24 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart.

    1 Timothy 6:1-2 NIV All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.

    Titus 2:9-10 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

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  9. Abortion Abortion
    Under 16 and Over
    The Abortion Conundrum
    People who believe Abortion is wrong also truly believe Republican / Extremist Conservative Christian politics are wrong
    Personal morality misgivings does not equate to Banning Abortions
    Roe Vs Wade A Woman’s Right to Choose Must Stand

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjxn5V3QGPw

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  10. LOL
    SOME OF US NEED TO READ 2TIM 2:15 AND LEARN TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF TRUTH
    START BY DEFINING THE MEANING OF EACH OF THE WORDS USED IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK
    GP OR HIS SIBLINGS OR PARENTS HAVE NEVER BEEN EVER SLAVES ANYWHERE THANK GOD LOL

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  11. Listen to what people say
    the bible was used to hold and control Negroes
    and they are still subjugated to white rule
    you were born before civil rights black rights human rights

    Plastic Smile

    Ey, ey, wo, ha, ey, coy, ey, ey

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

    Take you face from the ground
    Girl, stop wearing frown
    I’m not a clown that laughs and jokes
    While my structure in smoke
    Every man is born of truth, in the natural birth
    The things that the foreign say to do now
    Shows what life is really worth
    Don’t show I, don’t show I no teeth, teeth can’t work

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

    She mummy came from a foreign land
    With a whole lot of Babylon
    Now you gone a lucky land
    Girl, you’ve got to prove she lion

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

    Your mummy been saying that, whoa, oh
    When you reach a foreign land
    You will get a future paradise
    But that no right, that no right
    That no right, in a Jah Jah sight
    Oh, oh, oy, oh, ahoy, ahoy, yea, yey, myey

    A weh she say, she a say, she really say
    A weh she really tell so she say
    Don’t show, I don’t show I, no teeth yea, can’t work

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Ey, ey, wo, ha, ey, coy, ey, ey

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

    She mummy came from a foreign land
    With a whole lot of Babylon

    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work
    Don’t show I yuh teeth, plastic smile can’t work

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  12. Happiness

    What I’m a longing for is some happiness
    What I’m a longing for is some happiness

    Happiness is when you share dat love wit one another
    Happiness is when you together
    You got to
    They can get no time to press
    Because of all the distress that the society leads

    What I’m a longing for is some happiness

    Happiness is when you give Jah praises
    Happiness is when you livin’ with the feel of mind, oh yeah
    So long we be living and we can’t unite

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  13. “which one”

    the one you love the most…

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  15. That’s the one you love the most, thought you liked them younger…

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  17. Lawson…hope ya didn’t strangle anyone last night…

    Am actually surprised it’s Alabama, but some STATE has to be the adult in all of this and take the lead….who the hell are these crazies believing if children say they don’t like being a boy, lob of the penis, or a girl, carve out the vagina….how the hell did it reach to this…

    “Alabama Seeks to Become First State Banning Gender-Affirming Treatments for Children

    The state of Alabama has called on a federal court to uphold a ban on so-called gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youths, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed state governments to prohibit abortions.

    In a 76-page brief filed with the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall insisted that a previous injunction on the state’s ban of transgender treatments should be overturned.

    In the brief, Marshall goes on to insist that the Constitution reserves to the state, and not courts or medical interest groups, the authority to determine that “sterilizing interventions” are too dangerous for minors, adding that the State has a right to regulate or prohibit such interventions for children “even if an adult wants the drugs for his child.”

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  18. Don’t take rights for granted
    We sometimes take for granted the rights that we enjoy. Many of these rights have been taken as a given in society for so long that it becomes difficult to believe they can be taken away.
    In fact, certain rights are so taken for granted that people may come to believe that they have been granted by God. But none of your rights are sacred or eternally secure. All earthly rights must be secured through the mechanism of an authority or a culture. And the authority or culture that bestows a particular right may one day take it away.
    The overturn of Roe vs Wade by the United States Supreme Court comes as a shock to many. Pro-choice circles have been sent spinning by the repeal of a right which had come to be seen by many as normal, natural or at least non-negotiable. However, the right to have an abortion legally in the US was fought for. The war has continued between pro-choice and antiabortion advocates for decades.
    In recent times this conflict grew cold and did not make headlines like once before. The lack of media coverage could have left you believing that the war was over and that pro-choice advocates had won the final battle. Then bruggadown. The left was caught napping just as they were in the case of Brexit and with the ascendancy of Donald Trump.
    In the shake-up of Brexit and the quake of Trump, a complacent majority was shocked to wake the morning after and find the world turned upside down. It was as though they had slept through the respective campaigns advocating exiting the European Union and taking over the White House. By the time they realised it was not a dream, it was too late.
    Important battles had been lost. This is not to argue for or against Brexit, former President Trump or abortion. The point here is that a politically disengaged people will pay the price for their lack of interest in politics and political action. The cost of complacency and of political disengagement
    is often the loss of rights and freedoms that have been gained through long vigorous action and political struggle.
    There is a vigorous American gun lobby which refuses to give any ground despite a succession of school shootings. Some of those who would take away the right of women to choose an abortion in favour of the unborn child’s right to life are against stricter gun control laws which others argue could save the lives of children already born.
    No matter what your position on abortion rights or the right to bear arms, one thing is clear. What rights you have often depend on what rights you are willing to fight for and to defend.
    For what rights will Barbadians fight and defend? We will get an idea through the level of interest in and engagement with the coming process of constitutional reform.
    The Constitution is supposed to be the document that lays the foundation for the rights of citizens. Maybe the spiralling prices, the quality of the educational system, the unequal nature of our society and such issues which threaten the right to a basic standard of living will stimulate vigorous participation. Maybe Barbadians are ready to take full responsibility for our rights.

    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: adriangreen14 @gmail.com.

    Source: Nation

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  20. “Don’t take rights for granted”

    I have got telepathic and prophetic superpowers
    Republicans rolling back women rights means they will soon be gunning for gay rights and black rights to burn
    bringing USA back to good ole days for good ole boys when Negroes knew their place and gays were the butt of all jokes

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  21. They better put on that body armor and STARTING DEMANDING THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS….

    the parliament has NEVER BEEN A BASTION for African rights, not even the most basic…….they will not want to start now..the people have to TAKE THEM…IT’S YOURS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW…

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  22. As though pregnancy and childbirth is not likely to drain the life out of a poor ten year old rape victim physically,mentally and emotionally. But her life doesn’t matter to them at all. Nine months of extended rape. The penis is out but his seed remains, invading her underdeveloped body and mind. No doubt she feels like ripping it out with her bare hands.

    These are monsters we are dealing with here. As monstrous as the rapist. Perhaps even more monstrous.

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  23. Reversing

    Roe vs Wade
    By Ralph Jemmott

    Abortion is not one of the things to which most Barbadians give much thought. I think I am right in saying that it is legal in Barbados but one is not sure precisely under what circumstances.
    In my experience, the topic comes up mainly in conversations with persons of the Roman Catholic persuasion, who take a decidedly pro-life position. However, I notice that attorney Garth Patterson in a recent article sees it as one of the items that should concern the Constitutional Reform Commission.
    On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court reversed the 1973 decision known as Roe vs Wade. This reversal raises a number of concerns. Firstly, it overturns almost 50 years of precedent. That court, like most high courts, usually respects precedent, and as Emily Bazelton of Yale Law School has pointed out, on those occasions where the Supreme Court does roll back precedent, it is invariably done to advance individual and collective rights rather than to take away such rights as the recent decision has emphatically sought to do.
    Judicial activism is not unknown to the US Supreme Court. In 1953 Earl Warren was appointed Chief Justice by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Warren Court (1953 -1969) worked to expand rather than constrict civil rights, one of its most significant achievements being Brown vs the Board of Education, which ruled that racial segregation in American public schools was illegal.
    The second concern is that the reversal goes against much of American public opinion. A number of polls consistently suggest that about 63 per cent of Americans support Roe vs Wade, while only about 30 per cent consistently advocate overturning the 1973 ruling. Thus it would appear that the Supreme Court is seriously at odds with majority mainstream public opinion. This raises serious questions as to whose interest the court is serving.
    Privacy and liberty
    The third concern is the degree to which the revocation fails to accept the notions of privacy and liberty in terms of allowing a woman to control her own body in relation to the reproductive process. It is estimated that the ruling will take away abortion rights from women in 26 of America’s 50 states.
    This seems a highly unwarranted intrusion into what for most women must be a highly personal matter. Certainly women must be trusted with the right to choose on matters that affect them most intimately. The issue is not just one of abortion; it involves women’s reproductive health care generally, including cases of miscarriages, foetal abnormalities and other prenatal concerns.
    Women do not have abortions simply because they are careless or uncaring or worthless but because they are seriously handicapped by social, economic and personal circumstances that offer them little choice. The overturning of Roe vs Wade will disproportionably affect poor, black, brown and indigenous women and those living in rural areas with marginal access to care.
    The fourth and weightiest concern arising out of the recent decision, is the direction in which the Supreme Court is headed in its political orientation. The decision has had the effect of further dividing American society and exacerbating the animus between Democrats and Republicans, which already threatens to tear America apart. There is already talk of a possible Second Civil War. Some Democrats would have President Joe Biden step in to reverse the Supreme Court decision but he lacks the power to do that, certainly not by any kind of executive order.
    Under the American Constitution, the Supreme Court is not answerable to anyone. However, the politics of the Supreme Court reflects political manipulation by the Donald Trump-led Republicans. In fact, Trump claims that the revocation of Roe was his victory having successfully placed three Conservative Justices, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Aimey Coney Barrett, on the bench during his presidency. It is not uncommon for American presidents to select judges who support their ideological position, but as the Select Committee hearings are proving, Trump was more of a mob
    boss than a president.
    Interestingly, at the hearings for appointment to the Supreme Court all three indicated their willingness to retain Roe as undeniable precedent. Gorsuch said it had been confirmed many times and Kavanaugh agreed that it was in his words “precedent on precedent”. Were they deliberately lying?
    The American Constitution, like any other document, including the Holy Bible, is subject to exegesis or interpretation. In fact, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a book, A Matter Of Interpretation: Federal Courts And The Law. Scalia, who passed away in 2016, was described as ‘the intellectual anchor for the originalist and textualist position on the US Supreme Court’s conservative wing’. His opinions varied considerably from those of his good friend and fellow Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who was a liberal advocate for gay rights, gender equality and women rights.
    Some Supreme Court judges have opted for a stricter interpretation of the Constitution than others. Not being a lawyer myself, I have always wondered how a document written in the late eighteenth century can be so strictly interpreted to govern the completely changed environment of today. Certainly, the law was made for man and not man for the law.
    The recent judgment held that the right of women to privacy is not enshrined in the American Constitution, but a lot of things are not so enshrined. Women are not mentioned in the Constitution at a time when females did not have the vote. Blacks were not mentioned and two centuries later they were still struggling for basic human rights and freedoms.
    Opinions vary
    Across the Western world, opinion on abortion and abortion rights vary considerably. In much of Europe, abortion is not a constitutional right but is widely permitted up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. In the US in those states that permit abortion, it is allowed up to 14 weeks. Some Americans, mostly Catholic and fundamentalist Pentecostals, reject abortion altogether even in cases of rape and incest. The extreme of this position is held by those who still reject any form of contraception.
    Margot Sanger Katz, health care correspondent for the New York Times, suggests that the long term trend is towards liberalising abortion law rather than constricting such legislation. If this is true, Justice Clarence Thomas’ view in his concurring opinion overturning Roe gives tremendous cause for concern.
    He seems to be suggesting that the revocation of Roe opens the door for overturning decisions relating to same-sex marriage and even contraception, which would drastically encroach on any individual right to privacy. Fellow Justice, Samuel Alito has cautioned against reading too much into Thomas’ opinion, but given the current complexion of the Supreme Court, no one can be sure as to how far it may be inclined to push its judicial activism more and more to the extremes of the political right, in restricting time honoured freedoms.
    The answer for the majority of American women is to see the issue of abortion rights as a key factor in the upcoming mid-term elections due in November. They should vote against those who are not prepared to act in their proper interests by guaranteeing choice and the right to determine the ability to control their own bodies. To do otherwise would be socially regressive and fundamentally wrong.

    Ralph Jemmott is a retired educator and social commentator.

    Source: Nation

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