let's disregard all those who are stupid enough to have sex without some for of birth control if conceiving a child isn't the aim
what about when it is purely accidental? i've known/known of people who use condoms and are on the pill and have fallen pregnant
of course an abortion is justified if they aren't fit to raise children
but this isn't really a thread about whether or not abortion should be allowed (it should)
is killing a new born really the same as getting an abortion?
i'm inclined to say no.
Emotionally, there would be a significant difference for the parents (i.e. the difference between finding out you've got 16 little cells in your uterus compared to carrying a baby to term, giving birth then deciding to kill it)
morally, there is a difference. Legally a fetus isn't a person until it has breathed so legally killing a newborn is murder.
But then again it's probably just as wrong to bring a retarded child into the world as it is to kill it. both would leave the parents with guilt. the guilt of killing their child vs the guilt of seeing their child fall behind, be bullied etc (inevitable) and also, more often than not, parents blame themselves for something going wrong with their child "could i have done something different during pregnancy" etc even though it's not their fault (most of the time)
Parents are allowed to terminate their pregnancy if their amniocentesis shows the baby is retarded (i'm p sure all women over 35 have them these days) but what if the mother is younger and doesn't have one? it's not fair that she should have to go through bringing up a retarded kid when if she was a few years older she would have found out and had the choice to terminate.
i dunno. It's pretty much the same as euthanasia, in my mind. It's illegal, but it's more wrong (imo) to let someone continue living in pain/their mind completely gone than it is to turn up their morphine drip and let them die. My grandmother was pretty much euthanised. she was in lots of pain and didn't know what was going on half the time (when she did she was p much only frustrated/angry with herself) so her morphine was turned up and the Drs knew she would have breathing difficulties with that dose, but she felt no pain and just 'went to sleep'
tl;dr should be allowed an abortion, should not be allowed to kill a kid because you change your mind, should be allowed to if the kid is retarded.
sounds fucked, but what lolsmoth said, it would place less of a strain on resources, parents, health care, schooling, everything. more humane to end its life than let it live one where it is pretty much going to be ridiculed and is sueless (and probably knows it)