Originally Posted By: lectric
Not meaning to skew the topic further off course, but I am also a total fan of closed adoptions. I rather think that the idea that a child or birth-parent popping up out of the blue 18 years later is a bit of a turn-off for a lot of prospective people putting their babies up for adoption. My adoption is a closed one. The only way for me to meet my birth-parents is to write a letter and send it to the adoption agency. They have to do the same. In other words, we both have to decide that we want to meet each other. If either one of us wishes to remain unknown to the other, we never meet.


The downside to this is that it's much more difficult to know about genetic health factors. Does diabetes or heart disease run in your family? Breast cancer? Cystic Fibrosis?

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I DO find it fascinating how polar opposite the views on abortion are. It's one of those questions I am glad I am not in charge of solving. It's just one of those things where there is no compromise on either side possible.

IMHO, abortion isn't a problem that will ever be "solved". Personally, I find the practice vile, but I have a pro-choice stance for a few reasons -- a) it's un-bannable (we already know how well bans work, it just drives things underground), and b) it's not my place to force you to abide by my beliefs. I think the only compromise that will ever be possible is to reduce the need for abortions, through education and better access to family planning. I think that's a far more viable, and effective strategy for the anti-choice/pro-life folks to pursue than government regulation.

The anti-choice/pro-life folks seem not to care about all the zygotes, blastocysts, and embryos that are destroyed by in-vitro clinics, or are dumped after patients have decided that to no longer continue cryopreservation. That suggests to me that a) there's some wiggle room on where they really think life begins, and/or b) they're really more concerned about controlling women's reproduction rights, than they are about saving life (which I think is closer to the truth, given the number of pro-life folks who are also pro-death penalty).