Ranked Vote: How Should the Law Handle Abortion?

Winners:
Improve Availability of Contraceptives
Set Cutoff to Viability (Week 24): Because that's when a fetus is able to live outside the woman without artificial means
Exceptions if Health or Life of the Mother is Threatened (+ Others, view detailed results for full consensus)

(click for detailed results)

Ranked Vote: Discussion Thread

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Alright! Time to vote!

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The topic of this thread is dealing with the long-running Abortion Debate. Or more specifically, taking a closer look at the arguments used to justify positions on the issue and picking which among them are the best. And I know that some of you might say that this debate has already been settled, due to there already being laws on the books effectively putting the discussion to bed... but I think most of you know that all one needs to do is to take a quick glance at the abortion sub-section of this site to see that that isn't true .

My hope is that if nothing else, through this vote more will come to know at least that there are more than just two or three options for how to deal with this subject. As with many a topic, it is often binary-thinking which is the cause for much unnecessary division among us. Let's see if we can't come together this time 'round and find a consensus position amidst the extremes instead.

For anyone new to the Ranked Vote series, this thread is part of a group of threads geared towards taking important issues, coming up with a broad range of potential solutions to them, and voting on which of those solutions are the best, using ranked methods for tallying the votes:
Ranked Vote: Discussion Thread (includes schedule)
What To Do To Reduce Partisan Dysfunction In Politics
Solutions Oriented Approach to Restoring Meaningful Civil Discourse​

The original discussion thread regarding the subject of abortion is located here:
http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/how-to-finally-resolve-the-abortion-debate.538967/

Below is the current list of suggestions. Note that things are split into two sections. The first section contains two types of suggestions, one being a specific week or range of weeks for where the cutoff line for legal abortions should be placed (i.e. a point before which abortions should not be disallowed and after which should be disallowed), along with a reason for why that particular week or range should be the cutoff. Below that are potential exceptions. The second section contains other options for things we can do relating to abortion which don't fit into the first section.

Where Should The Cutoff Line for Abortions be Placed?:

A. Lovemaking (Week 0): Because Any Form of Abortion is Murder
B. Conception (Week 0): Because Life Begins at Conception
C. Conception (Week 0): Because since no one knows exactly when a zygote becomes a child, it must be assumed to qualify as one
D. Nervous System (Week 12): Because the baby’s senses are developing and it looks pretty human at that stage
E. Viability (Week 20): Because the earliest surviving baby was born at just over 21 weeks
F. Thalamic Afferents (Week 20): Because its been theorized that connections between afferents may be capable of pain transmission
G. Thalamocortical Fibers (Week 23): Because a fetus cannot suffer feel or perceive pain without Thalamocortical Fibers
H. Viability (Week 24): Because that's when the law defines a fetus as becoming a child
I. Viability (Week 24): Because that's when a fetus is able to live outside the woman without artificial means
J. Thalamocortical Fibers (Week 29): Because a fetus cannot suffer feel or perceive pain without Functional Thalamocortical Fibers
K. Pain Perception Dvmnt (Week 23-29): Because a fetus cannot suffer feel or perceive pain without Functional Thalamocortical Fibers
L. Pain Perception Dvmnt (Week 20-29): Because this is the period in which a fetus develops the structures necessary for pain perception
M. Mental Life (Week 29): Because fetal consciousness cannot and has not been observed to occur before this point
@. Medical Community (Week ??): Because the decision should be left to the doctors and patients who are more than capable
N. Birth (Week ??): Because That is When a Baby No Longer Depends On Its Mother to Live
O. Birth (Week ??): Because Women Should Always Have the Right to do What They Want With Their Body
P. There should be Exceptions in cases of Rape
Q. There should be Exceptions if Health of the Mother is Threatened
R. There should be Exceptions if Life of the Mother is Threatened
S. There should be Exceptions for Certain Fetal Abnormalities
T. There should be Exceptions for Incest
U. There should be Exceptions based on Ability of Parent to Afford and Care for the Child
V. There should be No Exceptions to the Cutoff Point​

Other Ideas:

W. Graduated Restrictions and Requirements for Women Seeking Abortion as Gestational Age Increases
X. Use Tech to Remove Human Reproduction to an Industrial Process
Y. General Abortions Paid for by Person Getting It (Not the Government)
Z. Loan Program to Help Fund People Who Want to Get General Abortion
#. Improve Availability of Contraceptives
$. Where Abortions banned, State/Govmt/Taxpayer money used for any costs needed to keep pre-term infants alive
&. Abortion Issue Should be State-by-State Issue NOT Federal
!0. Nothing Needed Beyond Cutoff Point and Exceptions (Status Quo Option)
!1. Don't Feel Qualified/Knowledgeable Enough To Vote In This Poll
!2. No Strong Feelings One Way Or The Other
​

Handling nominations a little differently this time around. Instead of piddling around with a separate phase, I've gone ahead and already assigned letter labels to the option. This thread will as such be immediately open for voting. So post your votes as soon as you're ready. If anyone wants to nominate something which isn't currently in the list of options, you can still do so by posting the option in this thread or as a "write-in" part of your vote. I will add these additional options to the list as we go and anyone who wants to change or amend their vote can do so.

Voting will run through Friday (8/31) after which the results will be posted.

To participate in this vote, simply cast a ballot by making a post in this thread with a list of the above noted option letters sorted in your order of preference.
Essentially, pick what you feel be to be the best argument/cutoff point for abortion to be at the top of your list, and follow it up with the next best argument/cutoff, and so on down the line.
(you don't have to include them all, but including more gives your vote more chance to have an impact)

Spoiler: Example Ballot from a past vote (either format is fine, or you can use both):

B, C, D, F, H, M

B. Automation-Induced Job-Loss
C. Unemployment and Underemployment in General
D. Partisan Dysfunction in Congress
F. Too Many Restrictions on Abortion
H. Too Much Gun Violence
M. Global Warming

Oh, and you can rank those options in any order you like, regardless of what section they're in. At the end of things, whichever week or week range that ranks highest will be chosen and combined with any exceptions that rank above option V (the no exceptions option) and any options from the 'other' section that rank above the status quo option !0. Let me know if there are any questions, and happy voting!

​

Spoiler: Ranked Vote Notification List

This list is for sending out notifications for whenever new Ranked Votes are set up.
If you want to be added to the list (or taken off of it) please visit the following thread:
http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/ranked-vote-contact-list.534668/

@Derideo_Te @Pollycy @fifthofnovember @redeemer216 @BahamaBob @modernpaladin @yiostheoy @Spooky @Jonsa @Crawdadr @Longshot @Distraff @Moi621 @Seth Bullock @Thought Criminal @jmblt2000 @61falcon @mamooth @Chronocide Fiend @Merwen @Bob0627 @fmw @clg311 @Mac-7 @APACHERAT @kazenatsu @Socialism Works @Moonglow @FreshAir @rtts48 @perdidochas @Bridget @Bowerbird @scarlet witch @Andrew Jackson @Sallyally @Kode @crank @Bluesguy @AlifQadr @tealwings @Capt Nice @Moriah @Ndividual @wyly @Woogs @DennisTate @Ritter @Junkieturtle @cerberus @Homer J Thompson @JohnnyMo @Smartmouthwoman @ARDY @reallybigjohnson @Falena @PatrickT @StillBlue @JakeStarkey @Nerd of Liberty @drluggit @PARTIZAN1 @Aleksander Ulyanov @Canell @The Rhetoric of Life @Lucifer @vman12 @btthegreat @Mr_Truth @JakeJ@DoctorWho@Loving91390 @Honky Kong

-Meta

 

Based on that, how would you vote in the Ranked Poll then?

 

BTW, here's my vote:

R,K,G,L,J,#,$,M,F,S,I,E,Q,H,D,P,Z,Y,V,U,T,!0,X,W

R. There should be Exceptions if Life of the Mother is Threatened
K. Pain Perception Dvmnt (Week 23-29): Because a fetus cannot suffer feel or perceive pain without Functional Thalamocortical Fibers
G. Thalamocortical Fibers (Week 23): Because a fetus cannot suffer feel or perceive pain without Thalamocortical Fibers
L. Pain Perception Dvmnt (Week 20-29): Because this is the period in which a fetus develops the structures necessary for pain perception
J. Thalamocortical Fibers (Week 29): Because a fetus cannot suffer feel or perceive pain without Functional Thalamocortical Fibers
#. Improve Availability of Contraceptives
$. Where Abortions banned, State/Govmt/Taxpayer money used for any costs needed to keep pre-term infants alive
M. Mental Life (Week 29): Because fetal consciousness cannot and has not been observed to occur before this point
F. Thalamic Afferents (Week 20): Because its been theorized that connections between afferents may be capable of pain transmission
S. There should be Exceptions for Certain Fetal Abnormalities
I. Viability (Week 24): Because that's when a fetus is able to live outside the woman without artificial means
E. Viability (Week 20): Because the earliest surviving baby was born at just over 21 weeks
Q. There should be Exceptions if Health of the Mother is Threatened
H. Viability (Week 24): Because that's when the law defines a fetus as becoming a child
D. Nervous System (Week 12): Because the baby’s senses are developing and it looks pretty human at that stage
P. There should be Exceptions in cases of Rape
Z. Loan Program to Help Fund People Who Want to Get General Abortion
Y. General Abortions Paid for by Person Getting It (Not the Government)
V. There should be No Exceptions to the Cutoff Point
U. There should be Exceptions based on Ability of Parent to Afford and Care for the Child
T. There should be Exceptions for Incest
!0. Nothing Needed Beyond Cutoff Point and Exceptions (Status Quo Option)
X. Use Tech to Remove Human Reproduction to an Industrial Process
W. Graduated Restrictions and Requirements for Women Seeking Abortion as Gestational Age Increases

-Meta

 

What exactly do you have against Ranked Polls?
You say they smell?... Smell like what?
And what the heck is a lutefisk?
Is that some sort of Nordic thing?
Some kind of fish maybe?...

 

Also, you do know right that if you don't want to rank,
you can still pick out just one option from the list and only vote for that.

Even so, why don't you like Ranked Voting? Is it something specific about the way I set them up?
I'd really like to know, because if possible I'd like to improve these votes to make them better.
So any feedback on how the votes can be improved is welcome.

-Meta

 

What's that supposed to mean? Can you explain it please?

Also, when I google Ranked Voting, all I see are good things that make me
wish even more that our country would hurry up and Dump Plurality already.

Oh, you were talking about lutefisk again, wern't you? Lol!

-Meta

 

But seriously though, what do you have against Ranked Voting?
Like I said before, I want to try and improve things if I can.

-Meta

 

Hello?... :/

 

How about you FoxHastings? I see you havn't voted yet either...
Or do you also have something against Ranked Votes?

-Meta

 

I... still don't get what you're trying to say here...
Can you explain it with words please? Thanks.

 

Oh and just to reiterate... the question I was asking was why is it that you don't like Ranked Voting?
Particularly, why you wont vote in this thread even though you're already posting in it?

-Meta

 

No need? The vote is simply asking for you to state your preferences. If you're saying there's no need for that because the issue has already been settled, then what's the point of even discussing the issue at all? Why for instance do you continue to go back and forth with Moi Bassman and others if you view something as simple as voting in an abortion poll as a waste of time? I mean... if that's how you feel what's the point of even posting in this thread?

Do you want me to just mark you down for NO then?
Seriously, why are making me guess at this?...

-Meta