The other day I was driving behind this hippy chick whose Honda Civic was plastered with 4-5 bumper stickers. Two of them stood out:
The first said: Go Vegan!
The second said: A hamburger stops a beating heart.
If you don't recognize it, A hamburger stops a beating heart is an allusion to the anti-abortion slogan, An abortion stops a beating heart.
So that got me thinking ... Many vegans and vegetarians don't eat meat for compassionate reasons: often a desire not to harm animals. Meanwhile, most liberals believe in Free Choice. So my question is this:
Do the majority of vegetarians support the right to choose over the right to life when it comes to human life? If so, how do they justify their beliefs? 
7 years ago
2 comments:
I think sometimes the "morality" of "choice" itself can be an interesting topic. I always believe in freedom of choice. Just not freedom to do whatever I want and (claiming the baby is not a someone).not be punished, when it infringes on the rights/property/life of others.
I support a man's right to choose. So , if he wants to beat and/or kill his wife...is that allowed? And others will say, but with abortion, it affects a woman's OWN body. Okay, so what if you had two conjoined twins? Since it's their body...does one (say the bigger one) have the right to beat and/or kill the other?
And if the objection of pro-abortionists say that it's because the child isn't yet alive -- then the issue shouldn't be one of choice, but one of whether or not the infant in embryo is alive or not. And that has been established, I believe.
So, if it's on moral grounds that someone is vegan -- about being pro-life, really -- then does it carry over into the abortion issue? Interesting. I'm not vegan or pro-abortion, so I can't really answer for myself.
Slightly off topic, I have noticed a lot of drivers who seem to think their cars are PSA billboards, and thus festoon the entire rear surface of their vehicles with bumper stickers. They're almost always of a liberal bent--at least all the ones I've seen have been. Heck, one guy had not one but two "Impeach George W. Bush" signs on his car: one amidst the pastiche on the back, and another in a side window.
I think it's kinda tacky.
On topic, that's an interesting dilemma, Phee. It does seem like condoning abortion would pose the Vegan in particular a paradox. Sadly, I just googled up a link and found this direct quote: "The personal negative consequences of not having an abortion are much more serious than any personal negative consequences of going vegan, and ... the negative consequence for the victim is much more serious in the case of eating eggs and dairy."
Scary, huh? I've said before that people can believe anything, but I'll have to amend that to say that includes any combination of even contradictory anythings. This is just one person's viewpoint, obviously, but it still demonstrates that it is possible to be a pro-choice Vegan. Another quote from the same place indicated that Veganism was about protesting corporations' abuses of animals, not promoting their well being per se, and thus the two issues had no intersection whatsoever.
However, I also found an online community of pro-life Vegans, so they are out there, too.
Still makes you wonder what the overall percentage is, though.
Incidentally, I've always thought being Vegan was to a large extent "bull[poop] posturing", to quote Banky from Chasing Amy--although he was referring to lesbians, not Vegans.
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