No More Bin Laden

[kandrathe]

To me, abortion is more about the rights of that citizen while still within the womb.

This is the part wherein the viewpoints collide and cannot be settled upon. No amount of discussion can sway either side. The "pro-choice" side has the Law (and some science) on its side, but the "pro-life" side has God (and some science) on its side. I see no meaningful way to debate it.

God refuses to weigh in on the debate in a decisive manner. My arguments stem from law alone. It's hard enough to attempt a rational discussion of one topic without clouding it up with various theologies as well. We could get bogged down arguing Aristotelian to modern ensoulment theory, Talmudic law (see also: Philo of Alexandria), or just exactly what Exodus 21:22 implies. There is a minority of so-called evangelical, very vitriolic and vocal, anti-abortion activists who are even willing to kill to make their point. Yeah, I know, not very Christian, and very crazy. And, there is a staunch group of "liberals", who see it only as a woman's rights issue, where any loss of ground would be akin to banishing women back to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.

But, even in their chosen self-descriptions there is disconnectedness... Pro-Choice vs Pro-Life... The opposites to those terms are anti-choice, and anti-life. "They want to take away a woman's right to choose!" -- Well, yes, the right to choose to kill another person, perhaps. And, on the other side, it's not as if anyone is really against life, or a proponent of killing babies. The issue is one of vagueness in defining when a human begins to exist, and by what criteria we differentiate between a lump of dividing cells and a human being.

But, to boil down the two sides in a less politically correct manner, they are "keep the fetus to term", and "kill the fetus". Then we can simply argue about whether and when a human fetus is really a living human being. If you want to base it on the same basis (brain activity) as those of us outside the womb, the fetus develops a functioning brain between the 7th and 10th week. As I said earlier, by the time a woman knows and gets a procedure scheduled, it is well beyond the point where it probably should happen (if you want to prevent the potential killing of a human being).

I think science has probably moved the debate toward the "keep the fetus alive" side, with the ubiquity of ultrasound, and improvements in care for prenatal delivery.

Here is some research from Pew, showing how the opinion trends are shifting -- http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1212/abortio...gender-gap

It appears from the recent polling that the movement of opinion is in the middle moderates, which are probably those willing to vote either way, and try to listen to both sides. But, it also shows the polarity of the intractable minorities on either side. "The decline in support for legal abortion has come entirely in the share saying abortion should be legal in most cases (from 37% to 28%); 18% say abortion should be legal in all cases, which is virtually unchanged from last August (17%). Currently, 44% say abortion should be illegal in most (28%) or all cases (16%), up slightly since last August (41%)."

Legal (18%) <------> Mostly Legal (28%) <------> Mostly Illegal (28%) <-----> Illegal (16%)