How far should "It's my body, I can do what I want" go?

[MorphingDragon]

We're really having this discussion? Everything has a line.

 

[HotFezz8]

I have little doubt she would say it's her body and she can do what she wants

its not her body if shes pregnant, its the babies. she's just living with it for a few months.

 

[Jesusthewizard]

In honestly people should do what they want with their bodies its the only way people will actually learn (just a shame it has to involve a possible loss life). We can scream and shout at them all we want but people will never learn unless they actually have suffered from what they did =/.

 

[Brazilianpeanutwar]

Let anyone who uses that expression kill themselves,harsh i know but it's the only way they'll learn.(yes i know that makes no sense)

All my life i've been surrounded by people and friends that do drugs,i'm sick to the back teeth of worrying about them,wondering whether they'll be dead or in a coma or worse, in the morning.
Sometimes you've just got to let people do what they want.It sucks,but some people just wont change.

 

[Pearwood]

Until your behaviour starts affecting others.

 

[GGZeta]

Your body is your body. You should be able to do whatever you want with it. If some parasite is growing in it that's its own business. If it steals my nutrients and antibodies than its my decision what to do with it. The moment you tell someone they don't have control of their own body you start going down a really slippery slope. I don't see it as life/not-life I see it as respect for the woman.

We don't get less human rights just because we can get pregnant.

 

[ChaoticLegion]

You SHOULD be able to do almost anything you want with your own body. But when you pregnant, it's not just YOUR body now is it?

Actually, by law yes it is just YOUR body. The fetus legally has no rights until it is born (the current legal deffinition of when life begins eg. killing of the fetus in the womb is not actionable as murder or manslaughter.

OT:
"It's my body, I can do what I want" is an argument for autonomy. I personally believe autonomy is one of the most valuable things in life and it is not up to the state to play the part of a paternalistic entity.

Now I will agree that this does become somewhat of a more complex debate when you bring into the equation an unborn child (which does not meet the legal deffinition of having life). The debate tackles the moral dilema of when life should be deemed to have started and, in that respect, when the fetus shall have rights of it's own enforcable over those of it's host (mother).

As I have stated, the current legal deffinition (in the UK) of when life begins is upon the birth of the baby, so as such, until this point, the fetus has no rights enforceable over the actions of it's mother. So whilst it may be a moral wrong for the mother to drink to excess, there is nothing, currently, illegal with regards to doing so.

 

[omega 616]

Currently on a 'popular' (not to be named) website, someone stumbled across a woman posting on facebook that she had enough vodka and coke's that she couldn't drink anymore or she wouldn't even be able to walk.

This is all well and good, except for the fact that she's 6.5 months pregnant. Many people expressed their disgust on her page or by messages, all the while her friends and family keep posting retaliatory messages supporting her and saying how good of a mother she IS and WILL be.

It astounds me people could be this stupid, never mind the fact her friends and family are supporting her choices to drink and having the gall to actually say she will make a good mother. This just screams of selfishness and idiocy, regardless of it being legal or not.

Right off the CDC's website: "Is it okay to drink when pregnant?"

No. There is no safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy. Women who are pregnant or plan on becoming pregnant should refrain from drinking alcohol.16 Several conditions, including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders have been linked to alcohol use during pregnancy. Women of child bearing age should also avoid binge drinking to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy and potential exposure of a developing fetus to alcohol.

I have little doubt she would say it's her body and she can do what she wants due to her blatant lack of regard for her future child, but should this not be illegal? You aren't just one anymore. This argument also has roots in things like abortion but for the sake of this, let's try to keep it on the alcohol.

The sicker part is they will see what she has done to the baby at birth then give it up for adoption 'cos it's not normal. I would bet they will still beilive it was just geneteics and not her drinking.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

You SHOULD be able to do almost anything you want with your own body. But when you pregnant, it's not just YOUR body now is it?

This

I believe fundamentally in absolute freedom to do as you please, so long as it doesn't harm anyone else, or go against anyone else's will. So yes, you can do what you want with your own body. But when you are carrying an unborn baby, you're no longer just harming yourself, but your soon-to-be child. So yes, you can do what you want to your own body to no limit, I believe. But when someone else becomes involved, it's a different matter

 

[Loves2spooge]

If they're pregnant, then it's the body also facilitating the well-being of another who's not responsible for their own wellbeing. To drink vodka and coke under such circumstances is deplorable, and child endangerment.

However, your body is your own responsibilty. Personally, I don't want to tattoo or pierce myself to the point where I look like a college art project that's been attacked by a staple gun, but as far as I'm concerned, you should have full liberty over your own body and what you do with it, how far you go with it depends on how much you respect it.

 

[Booze Zombie]

The ultimate "it's my body" has gotta be the guy who went ahead and decided he'd like to be eaten by someone and viola, he's in a freezer.

If they're pregnant, then it's the body also facilitating the well-being of another who's not responsible for their own wellbeing. To drink vodka and coke under such circumstances is deplorable, and child endangerment.

I'm sorry to laugh at such a serious subject, but the way I said that sentence in my head it came out like Coke was just a dangerous as vodka and... well, I found that quite amusing.

Please carry on with the serious talk.

 

[Gigano]

If she plan to keep the child, then by that choice she is doing harm to a future person, and thus it is ethically wrong for her to imbibe large amounts of alcohol.

Of course, whether it's so grave that legal regulation should be applied is another matter. As long as abortion is not available until it's no longer reasonably medically safe to perform, I'd be against restricting her personal freedoms, unethical as her actions might be.

 

[Vakz]

Well, I'm the sort of liberal that believes you should be able to do whatever you want, until you become an extreme liability on society and a hazard to the people in your surrounding. So in your example, I'm fairly sure "drinking while pregnant" would fit in nicely with "extremly hazardous to another human being (or soon to be human being)".

 

[messy]

Until it starts to harm other people. Any sort of substance abuse doesn't occur in a bubble. If you're drug taking leads to crime or damages some one's health. E.g if you keep being rushed to hospital for killing your liver and this leads to someone who has liver failure not caused by themselves not receiving the correct treatment I think that's selfish.

And you should not drink during pregnancy, that child hasn't been born the least you can do is not damage it.

 

[CommanderKirov]

Untill you harm some other living being.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

You SHOULD be able to do almost anything you want with your own body. But when you pregnant, it's not just YOUR body now is it?

Seconded.
Also applies, in my opinion at least, when someone is dependant upon your well being. Like an infant or something of the like.
If you're completely independant of such things, go ahead and dope yourself out of humanity, or perhaps a bullet to the brain. Whatever makes you happy I guess.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Remember theres two of us in here.
Oh that Halo 3 quote almost made cry.

Anyways on topic, There should be some limits, since lets say you want to drnk 10 bears, then go out and drive. Sure its your body, and your rigt, but now you could possibly hurt someone else. There needs to be some type of rules so that wont happen