Exodii
1yr ago
Abortion can be more accurately described as decentralized eugenics and has been hypothesized as a long term crime reduction policy. Those who are least willing and able to raise children choose to abort. This skews towards impoverished single mothers, the demographic most at risk for raising dysfunctional children. The fathers tend to not be involved either, presumably due to low impulse control, inability to provide materially, drug abuse, criminality, etc.
Even if you believe that abortion is murder, there is a strong argument that it is the lesser evil compared to forcing these types of women to birth and potentially raise these children. I doubt adoption would be an effective replacement, since the current number of abortions per year is roughly an order of magnitude higher than the number of adoptions. You would have to dramatically liberalize the adoption process, which would increase the risk of unfit parents adopting orphans. I also suspect there would still be low demand for children suspected to have come from drug addicted underclass mothers, resulting in further stress on the foster system, damaging most of these kids and dooming them to the underclass.
The idea of 'wasted equipment' is omnipresent and simply emerges out of scarcity. There is only so much time, energy and resources to allocate. Organ recipients are ranked according to how likely they are to survive and thrive if they were to find a donor. MIT allocates seats to those who are most likely to thrive in that educational environment, rather than 'wasting equipment' by admitting affirmative action students who are more likely to drop out. Spending maximal resources irrespective of the background of the recipient results in worse outcomes.
The other poster's hypothetical situation is one of a baby with a severe genetic defect and unlikely to survive. To completely ignore the reality of the situation leads to 'The Hartley Hooligans' with a delusional mother keeping her kids with microencephaly alive, despite the fact they're effectively braindead. Or any number of needless procedures to extend the life of the terminally ill.
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