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1. RU486 can not insure that the baby will pass within a couple of days.
   A woman in the United States took 6 weeks for her abortion to become complete after taking RU486 and then sat in a pool of blood wishing she had died with her baby.
   When is the disregard for a woman's mental health going to stop. It is not just the baby that dies that day but the mother as well.
   

   Posted By: Anne Sherston

2. But Anne, that is the mother's choice. And many women will take it and deal with the consequences, as we all do when we make important decisions. There wasn't barbed wire around the apple tree to stop Eve from reaching for the apple and Christ wasn't on gaurd with a gun to stop her.
   People must be free to make these decisions, and terminating a pregnancy 2 days after intercourse is a lot more palatable then an abortion at 3 months.
   Yes, I know, there are many ways to prevent a pregnancy (not that our elderly male clerics at the top believe those to be right either) and the woman concerned should have used those first, but who are we to judge how it all came about, and who are we to deny this medication?
   It is between the mother and her God.

   Posted By: Nicola

3. But, Nicola, it isn't about the woman. I'd be the last to suggest we can judge the woman or her motivation or her status before God. (Judge not....)It's about the human life she's carrying.
   What kind of a people, a species even, are we when we can so easily define pregnancy as a 'disease' to be countered by a 'medication'? Termination might very well be necessary in some cases, but surely it should never be a casual decision? Or even an individual decision - conception shouldn't happen by the will and action of one person alone, nor should termination.

   Posted By: Joan Seymour

4. Joan: It is about the woman and the pregnancy that she is carrying. And who is suggesting that pregnancy is a "disease"?
   Yes, Anne Sherston, RU486 does not always work according to plan (and not including pregnancy).
   Having read your horror story about the unfortunate woman and her delayed abortion, I do wonder whether the drug caused her to abort or whether she miscarried naturally.
   Whatever, I do wonder whether she had had proper medical supervision at any stage.
   All very well for the bishop to pontificate-anti family? I don't think so.
   Anti-woman? No medical practitioner forces a decision to terminate a pregnancy.
   Anti-child? No, we aren't talking children here.
   In the end it comes down to the choice of the woman. If she regrets her decision, then so be it and one can only hope in that situation that it doesn't happen again.
   As for 'wishing she had died with her baby', anyone who thinks like that needs real help.

   Posted By: JR,Sydney

5. So does Nicola advocate anarchy where society can have no regard for either the good of the individual or the commonwealth if the individual makes a catastrophic choice?
   This is why the Pope is so opposed to relativism.
   And Adam and Eve were possessed of unweakened will and undarkened intellect - we suffer the fruits of their fall until we are perfected in heaven.

   Posted By: Peter in Canberra

6. Peter, you will have to enlighten me as to when a termination caused anarchy.
   Adultery isn't a crime anymore - it was once - and sometimes adultery has catstrophic consequences. Homeosexuality is no longer a crime either.
   Law is not morality. Law keeps the social contract so that we all live in peace, it tries to be as unobtrusive and non-intrusive as possible. Morality is something else. We don't all have the same views. Nor is life black or white. It is actually more like techicolour.
   I never had a child and was unable to adopt because there were insufficient babies available. I personally would never terminate unless there were pretty extreme circumstances, which I wont go into here. But I believe in the choice to terminate, and this medication is better than other methods that come to mind.
   Joan, I could just as easily say "it wasn't about Eve". When mankind "fell" (as the myth goes) look what the consequences were - centuries of inhumanity, degredation and abuse. Did our all knowing God know what his creations would do, down the line? he didn't stop our free will, did he? He could have done so, arguably. That issue has been a theological thorn in the side for many years.
   Finally - that little human life goes back to the divine, of that I am certain. The divine is all loving and giving. For all we know, that little life is given another chance at maturity. It is between the mother and God, it is between God and that little life.

   Posted By: Nicola

7. This is perhaps one of the saddest issues confronting society today.
   In reality, the question is not whether the mother has more rights than the baby, or vice versa.
   The issue is, what criterion does the mother use to make her choice.
   Society will judge her no matter what she chooses to do, but God will judge her according to her conscience; and society can do nothing to change God’s will.

   Posted By: Peter Shafton

8. If conscience is the informed moral judgment of the intellect, and we will be evaluated according to our respect for our own conscience, then society has a responsibility to assist us to be fully and accurately informed; and the belief that life in the womb has no right to life may be serious (even satanic) misinformation equivalent to Eve's belief that her access to Godly power was more important than obedience to God's expressed will.
   Of course we cannot and should not judge individuals, but we can and should fight for justice for the unborn.

   Posted By: michael roach

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