Jocificus wrote:
And I pretty much disagree with this entirely. There are tons of animalistic urges that humans go through every day. Everything from sex to violence can be pure animal urges.
Yet we're told that violent urges are wrong and that we need to suppress them, but sex urges are ok.
Yes, there's a difference between the two in end result, but one we're told we can and should suppress (violence) and the other in many cases we're told is "natural" and to embrace it (sex).
Frankly, you can't have it both ways. If people can (and do) suppress other urges, they can suppress sexual ones as well.
Controlling them is another influence no different from an "animalistic urge." Humans are just animals, and animals are just biological machines. We are completely governed by our biology and our programming. There's no special choice ever made by anyone. At a macro-level, we can control, to various degrees, through advertising campaigns or laws or other ways, various types of input that influence the decisions people make. But in the end, every decision you or I or anyone else makes, is just a complex mathematical equation with your nature and nurture filling in the variables and operations performed. It is no more a choice than the answer to 2+2 is a choice.
This is not to say we should not attempt to influence people away from destructive behavior. This is the reason for speed limits and fines and such, it influences people to drive more safely. However, I think that in this case, you are fighting a losing battle. Humans will act like humans, and this isn't a bad thing. I'm also not convinced abortion is a bad thing. (To counter Oonagh's comments, the majority of abortions happen in lower socioeconomic environments. I would say from a darwinian perspective, they help (insufficiently) to counter the fact that people of lesser drive, ambition, and intelligence tend to have more children than the rich and the geniuses do. I'm rather of the opinion that human evolution might be stagnating and some of the reasons have distasteful implications against altruism and what we consider "goodness.") I'm not particularly convinced we should consider a lump of unthinking and unfeeling cells "human beings," or give them any particular legal protections/rights. I am still of the opinion that "viability" needs to be where we place the legal line, if only for ideological consistency.