I know two, Salty. I understand what you are saying about the other type situation but the total ban you advocate doesn't help those among them that are innocent. You might feel differently if one of your female relatives was raped or might not survive preganancy? Live long enough and you will know someone like that. Many choicers would change sides if the exceptions for rape, incest, and the health of the mother remained on the table.
If a woman is raped, give them the morning after pill. I don't agree with it, but it's a start. We rarely know about incest, but if we do, then the same thing. If the health of the mother is at stake, then leave it up to the mother and father. I believe that my wife would have chosen to die if it meant that one of our children would live. But, again this is something for the mother and father to decide. I can live with that also. But, it really should be a life or death situation. Again red, these are just a very small percentage of the abortions every day in this country. Most state laws allow exceptions for the things you listed. I'm sure a federal law would also have exceptions for rape, incest, and mothers health. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of abortions are done simply because the mother doesn't want the baby. $300.00 and the little problem goes away. That's murder.
On this we can agree. But it is this small percentage that I defend. And it is over 51,000 women annually. Well, the new state laws proposed in Kansas and Louisiana do not. This is a point that the fundamentalists will not budge on. There must be compromise on this divisive isssue, as you have described above.
Even in cases of rape and incest the baby is innocent. The mother can give the baby up for adoption, but aborting it is still murder. If the mother will die from carrying a baby it becomes more grey. I don't know how I feel about that. As far Terry Schiavo I side with what Pope John Paul II said about similar circumstances. Artificial life support extends the life beyond its natural cylce. It keeps involuntary organs performing functions they would not otherwise. To that extent it is morally justafiable to let someone's body fail and allow them to die. Food and water, what Terry Schiavo needed, are not extraordinary needs for survival. They are basic. It is always wrong to force someone to die by denying them basic needs for life.
