Abortion, or Death and Suffering

I don't understand what the big deal is about death. So many people seem to think it's the scariest thing there is, and I just can't comprehend that. Death itself doesn't worry me at all. My beliefs being what they are, I'm pretty sure my consciousness won't be around to see what comes next, but even if I'm wrong about that, I'd still be far more curious than scared.

Suffering, on the other hand, is essentially the only bad thing in the world to me.

This viewpoint has consequences in other areas too, which I will no doubt address in later posts, but for the current purpose, I mention it so that you know where I am examining abortion from. Probably obviously, I conclude that it is worth making available to people. I find that whether abortion is a good idea depends on weighing the suffering caused by having the child against the suffering caused by aborting the child. And I think only the parents can really be the ones to make that call with any hope of accuracy.

While I'm on the topic anyway, here are a couple of interesting articles. First, there is the Dutch Abortion Boat, providing "abortion pills" in international waters near countries that criminalize abortion. Second, we have an unusual perspective, partly unusual because it's a male's perspective, and partly because of the health concerns that his wife faced while pregnant.