This is truly a sensitive subject and admittedly, I should not make light of it. I don't think abortion would be for me but I've never had someone pregnant that I did not intend to impregnate nor have I ever been pregnant. I think the morning after pill should be a staple in the medicine cabinet or purse of every sexually active woman that does not want to bare a child. I think abortion should be safe and legal and would prefer a world where people don't feel that is their best option. Any abortion after the 1st trimester for me personally would have to be related to severe birth defects, rape, molestation, life of the mother, etc. I think the best approach is to arm our youths with as much information as possible in terms of safe sex, etc. The states in our union with the highest teen/unwanted pregnancy rates are the south/bible belt. Teaching abstinence is a noble intention but does not work. On a personal note, I have lunatic relatives who take their children to planned parenthood every Friday and "protest". This bothers me immensely and I think it is abusive to teach babies about such harsh realities. It definitely takes away their innocence. It will come as no surprise either that these loons are uber christian and 3rd generation home schoolers.
A thoroughly reasonable post and exactly the type of discussion and debate I like to have and I believe to be the most fruitful. I think if we both had the final say on this matter we could definitely come to an agreement. There are beliefs I have that are absolute but I do live in the real world and mostly the choice is not between good and bad but between bad and worse, the ideal and the possible. I would compromise on the first-trimester limit. And this is a big one for me and I would be accused of being a hypocrite because, after all, life is life. But, strictly speaking, I don't consider a gestating fetus a human life. It is a nascent human life which I believe has great value. But it is still not the equivalent to a fetus/human that can live outside the womb.
Most people believe that too but won't admit it. When I tell them that if they were a sniper and that say, during a time at war, an executioner would go into a building every morning to shoot to death every prisoner that was taken there previously, would you, as a sniper, shoot the executioner and save the lives of the prisoners representing your side. Most say yes. Those that say no wouldn't kill under any circumstances.
Then when I ask them would you shoot an abortion doctor walking into his office to perform his daily abortions. Well, the response is often quite different. I don't like equating a gestating fetus to an actual human life because it is that type of thinking that does move some to shoot abortion doctors or feel they should be put to this.