DuracellEnergizer said:
Perhaps the following should be in the religion thread, but since it centres heavily on matters pertaining to abortion, I felt perhaps it would be best put here.
...
As some of you have probably already guessed, I've espoused a pro-choice stance when it comes to abortion in the past. It isn't really because I believe an underdeveloped embryo/fetus isn't a viable human and that the mother has the right to abort if she wishes; it's because I have a rather dim view of physical existence on this Earth.
Basically, I feel that existence on this world is one of suffering, that when one brings a child into this world, they not only bring more misery into this overpopulated, dying world, but they heap misery upon the child they've brought into this world, however unwittingly. I have felt, more often than not, that it is better not to ever be born into this world. I have felt that if there is an afterlife, it is best to skip right over this one and go straight to the end of the road to become one with God. That is why I've supported a person's right to have an abortion.
However, about a week ago, while I was lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, I began to wonder if perhaps aborting an unborn child doesn't spare them from the misery of this world. I began to wonder if God wanted people to be born into this world as some part of Its master plan -- I began to wonder if God incarnated souls into this material world so that they could live a life of physical suffering before finally graduating, so to speak, and passing on through into the spirit world. I began to wonder if abortion didn't just force the souls of the unborn to be reincarnated into another body, prolonging their suffering in this corrupted universe.
So what am I saying? I'm saying I don't consider myself pro-choice anymore. Of course, I don't consider myself pro-life, either. I suppose you could say I'm caught at a point somewhere between the two stances where they cancel each other out (if that makes any sense).
Assuming the existence of God (which I do), I can't imagine why he would create earth, create mankind, create a beautiful and loving means of procreation, and then be okay with us killing our offspring before their birth because this world sucks. He knows this world is an awful place, but he also knows it is a beautiful place. He knows that one person can make it more beautiful. LDS theology teaches that this world was made for us to grow and learn and experience the good and the bad, and thus better appreciate the good. If one believes in God, I can't see how they think He would be okay with abortion in most cases.