My personal view of abortion is this. The only time that abortion should be used is if: a.) The mother-to-be was raped, and was inpreagnated by the rapist b.) The mother-to-be would die during the birth other than that, it should be illeagel. If you decide to have sex and get preagnet because you decided not to use protection, deal with the conequences.

sooner or later this country will have to come up with some cut-and-dry laws concerning abortion, instead of saying well, its a baby if the female carrying it says so, and vice versa A fetus/embryo is either alive or not, a human or not. you can't have it both ways. ex. a woman 3 1/2 months pregnant is on her way to the ol' clinic the have that sucker ripped up and sucked out. As she turns a corner she bumps into a man who is angered by her and decides to punch her in the stomache. That bum would go away for murder of the fetus, although the woman was about to do the same thing completely legally. Hmmmm. And o yea, ladies. The baby is on no level a part of your body. Maybe nature did this just to refute that pathetic argument. The placenta and the way it is 'attached' to the mother is a defence mechanism for the developing baby. The intermeshing of tissues is very complex and the placenta and baby are not actually connected to the mother, rather imagine the way velcro works. Trillions of cilia intermeshing, but unconnected. neat huh? btw Im all for abortion before the 4th month. while im rambling i should point out that a fetus can see hear and cognate, however so do possums and i have no problem with killing those! once again, i am pro-abortion (not pro-choice thats just an emotional catch-phrase designed to work on peoples fragile sense of logic.)

Abortion is a sad necesssity of society, something that should be exercised when needed. When you put it as murdering a baby, you pull at others heart strings because in todays world, babys are thought of as helpless and unable to do harm, but a fetus cannot see, feel, or expeirience emotion of any kind. It isnt alive. Some would argue that it has potential for life but a woman who is having an abortion is probably a desperate one who cant support children. When the child is born, they may be abused or go without proper health care and nutrition and then you have a socially inept, poor child who is going nowhere in life. By this persons twenties, or maybe even teens, they are on their own in the world, perhaps on welfare without a job. Is that a life worth living? A life worth saving?UPDATE: Eschew, I just started studying the qualifications of life at school and unborn fetuses are not alive. Babys are yes made of cells,Yes, they use energy, they move, they dont respond, or adjust to changes,they dont reproduce, they grow, they develop, they dont adapt, yes they have a lifespan. To be alive according to modern science you must apply to all of those. Fetuses dont. They dont live. If your so worried about the sanctity of life, become a vegetarian. And bo it wouldnt be like playing god for a desperate woman to get an abbortion. It would be her own choice and a way for her to control her future. Id like to see what you would do in a pregnant womens shoes. P.S. why did you give abortion a four star rating if your against it?

I am neither for nor against abortion but I wonder why those who are anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia seem to be supporters of capital punishment. Isn't this all the same thing, taking a life? Update: I understand EO's point he's making but a lot of people with incurable diseases and poor quality of life are going to Switzerland to die (there euthanasia is legal) so do people have a right to tell them they can't do this (when in this case it is a choice) if we condone murdering inmates. It depends if you feel we have these choices to make or that only God decides who and when.

For those who see abortion as black and white: please consider the ramifications of forcing all irresponsible women to birth their millions of mistakes. Are we prepared to make sure these children have adequate health care? How do we ensure these unwanted children don't grow up criminally neglected? What do we do about all the absentee fathers who cheat these kids out of even the most basic child support? How do we better ensure that drunk women do not get used and essententially raped? How do we prevent an industry of unsafe illegal abortions? How do we convince women not to resort to a coat hanger or a dumpster ditch? Should women really give up control of their bodies for 9 months? How do we address the bumper crop of hard-to-adopt orphanage babies? Should we also force the extra embryos from fertility centers into birth? What about selective reduction, should we force women to attempt to give birth to octuplets, despite the health compromises? There so many dimensions to this issue, and it appears to me that trying to completely halt one ethical dilemma creates a host of other ethical dilemmas.

I would like for someone to answer that if choice is the supreme human right from where does it extend? Human desire? If we as a people subvert the starting principle- the right to life- for expediency, we have simply organized rights in a manner whereby only the powerful determine who lives and who dies. To successfully pull murder off behind a veil of ignorance, these individuals must rename humans (ie fetus) because I'm sure they (the unborn humans) would themselves exercise their right to choose life. Man since the beginning of time has been killing other men to fulfill his earthly wants and desires. Abortion is just an organized culture of legal murder, justified by a procedural change of names. Murder will always be indefensible, selfish and wrong- unless of course you think you're the center of the universe.***** Pajamas please tell me after what date in the womb a child becomes a human being? You simply assert your opinion and excuse yourself from the discussion while wishing the dissenters dead. You expect that to be a tenable position?**** SF, if abortion is legal and not murder why shouldn't the medical procedure be something girls do whenever they accidentally get impregnated? What is it that you find about terminating the life process intrinsically wrong or something to be avoided? UPDATE: Teachme needs more than love how about a dose of logic. Using your's we might as well legalize the murder of the poor for the sake of reducing poverty. At the core of this discussion is the essence of all our political differences- how is freedom created. I can assure you that freedom constucted by the capricious will of those in power arbitrarily creating or removing socially constructed rights is no freedom at all.

I don't consider a fetus in the 1st trimester a human being. But this is really a tired old debate with one side yelling Murder and the other side yelling right to choose...kinda makes me wish their mothers would have gotten one.

It is your body and I could care less what you do with it, but what about the other body you are carrying with you? Are you gonna tell me that one isn't important?

Abortion should be legal, but it should never be used as a method of birth control. If you like to sleep around, go on the pill, get a shot every month, or utilize some other means of effective birth control.

The granddaddy of all topics. Definetely one the main topics that separates the republicans and the democrats. I am a democrat but I am against abortion. I do believe that it is murder and I think that using it as a form of birth control is just plain wrong. republicans feel strongly about this topic but haven't done sh*t about it. This is pretty much what they are. The talk a good game but they don't play a very good game.

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. (Ronald Reagan)

This social issue is one of the biggest political lightning rods in this country. I personally don't think abortion is ethical, to use this as a form of birth control is apprehensible to me. It's telling that there were about 1.2 abortions last year. It says a lot about our society and that we can't take responsibility for our actions, and that goes for both men and women. Most of us I'm certain can agree that abortion is a horrible procedure, one that does irreparable damage to both the mother and fetus. However, I acknowledge as well that abortion is going to happen regardless of the limits that the government tries to place on it. You can say that it's fine to support abortion only in cases where the life of the mother is threatened, rape, or incest, but that doesn't solve either the legal or moral question at hand. Life is life, therefore the argument doesn't hold muster. The argument boils down to individuation with abortion- a mother isn't pregnant until the point of implantation, so under a purely pro-life position, taking a morning after pill would be wrong. Some argue that abortion is wrong because it deprives a fetus of a future like your own. The problem with this goes back to the individuation question and specifically WHAT individuates us as a person? That's more of a scientific question, generally it's regarded that at 16 weeks, a fetus can be considered a person. Religion comes into the question when you start discussing another question, namely, when does life begin. Some argue that individuation isn't an on and off switch, there's a difference between stages between the various stages of pregnancy; it is a matter of resemblance, making it a scientific question. Some say that personhood isn't all biological, rather it is spiritual. Abortion has always existed, the government has had little success in trying to regulate personal behavior. Earlier in the century, states passed laws regulating abortion, not banning it. We should probably return to this approach to make sure that if it's going to happen, it should be done in the safest environment possible. The reality is that an abortion should be performed only in last-case scenarios. Of course, abortion isn't going to be completely banned, nor should it be. Life isn't so clean cut black and white. Unfortunately, this is going to remain part of the political discourse, it shouldn't be in this arena however. This is a personal ethical matter after all.

Women should be able to have a choice; it's their body. In circumstances such as rape this is really the only option. However it is sad to think about the number of healthy babies who would have led a productive life had they been given up for adoption instead. Many couples are trying to adopt but cannot because the waiting list is too big. And you have to wonder, with the thousands of abortions that occur each year, that some of those babies would have turned out to be great people. We may be missing some future leaders, doctors, scientists, or presidents because abortion was the easy way out.

Abortion is clearly the most divisive issue in the U.S. as there are few issues in which reasonable differences of opinion amount to such polar conclusions. In other words, the pro-choice advocates consider abortion a minor medical procedure while po-life advocates consider abortion to be murder, yet both positions are reasonable and logical. Some of the confusion and animosity is the result of so many people not acknowledging how the issue essentially breaks down. Of course the ultimate question is when does life begin. Notwithstanding some who profess to know the answer, the reality is that no one knows. Science cannot presently tell us when life begins, so we must turn to religion, philosophy, etc to help us find answers to this question. (This is why there isn't really a violation of church and state with abortion as a general rule.) Nevertheless, what we all agree on is that the probability of life increases as the pregnancy progresses. Also we all agree that people have an interest in whether to become a parent or not. In the end, the abortion issue is not a life or choice question at all, but rather a quality of life question. In other words, whether the chance of intentionally taking a human life at a point during a pregnancy is worth granting the choice to become a parent or not. Pro-choice advocates (including myself) feel that the choice is worth the risk; pro-life advocates (who are just as reasonable) believe that the choice is not worth the risk. It has nothing to do with it's a woman's body as whether it is just her body or two people involved is the ultimate question in reasonable debate; moreover, the fact that most pro-choice advocates feel that abortion should be an option of last resort reflects their uncertainty of when life begins. On more specific matters, some red herrings should be dispelled. First, the fact that abortion would occur whether legal or not is simply not determinative (though material) as every law is broken (including rape and murder). Second, notwithstanding the courts' sporadic use of the legal fiction of a right to privacy, there is no Constitutional right to privacy. Every law infringes on one's right to privacy to some greater or lesser degree, and all laws are simply not subject to a constitutional analysis. For this reason and others (eg a violation of federalism and separation of powers), Roe v. Wade is not good law and will eventually be overturned. In other words, it is dangerous for the pro-choice side to hang their collective hats on Roe. As a pro-choice advocate, I must in good faith turn to where the question of legal abortions should lie, namely with the several states and commonwealths. The questions of when life begins, the value of choice, and when the risk is worth the benefits are all intangibles which should be valued on the local levels through the political and legislative processes. The bottom line is that both the pro-choice and pro-life positions are reasonable and logical, the question boils down to whether the risk to human life is worth granting the choice, and that this issue should be legislated on the state level.

whether you are Christian or not, how can anyone feel good about this? How can anyone condone such an act without thinking of it as murder? That is all it is in my eyes, and unfortunately so many have been brainwashed into thinking it is ok and that it is a choice. I hope someday people stop murdering babies...and yes, this is a very important political issue...they need to ban it all over the country...

Adoption, not abortion, folks.

Abortion needs to stay legal. If it doesn't, Women will just go back to using clothes hangers or going to get them done illegally by non-registered doctors. A baby suffers more by getting ripped and gutted apart by a hanger than with one of the normal abortion procedures. Also, What if abortion is to save the life of the mother? In what about in cases where a girl was raped? Is it fair to force her to have a child? Also, I must tell you a true story. There was a extremely mentally insane woman in the psychiatric hospital where my nana worked. She became pregnant. The doctors said that if she had the baby the state would take it from her. The woman was suicidal and very emotionally stressed mind you. So because they would not allow her to have an abortion, She gave it to herself. She used a coathanger, yep. Impaled the kid right in the head and also impaled her own uterus. Some method huh? Want this to be the norm? Didn't think so.

Sometimes, sadly, women don't choose to have children. Rape does occur, which is very tragic and saddening. I believe that women should have a choice. Now, I do not think they shouldn't have a baby merely because they don't want one--that's what adoption is for. But, if a woman is raped or impregnated under the most extreme of conditions, they should have a right to have or not have the child. I can't say whether or not a fetus is alive or not, but personally, from what I believe and what I've learned in my science classes, they aren't sentient until many weeks after conception. To make a long opinion short, I believe that the choice should be there.

Abortion is murder! Since when is it freedom of choice to kill an innocent human being?? The practice is absolutely revolting and shameful. It's also ironic that people who are pro-choice are also the ones who are against the death penalty! Doesn't this seem condradictory to anyone else? I mean you'd think someone who is ok with killing an innocent baby would be ok with punishing a murderer or a rapist, right? Pathetic.

I am pro life. I beleive that as soon as you are pregnant the choice has already been made. Sex is a great privelage, and I hate quoting spiderman, but with great privelages come great responsibility. Don't have sex if you can't face the consequences.

People say that a woman should have the right to choose what she wants to do with her body. The problem is that it's not HER body being tossed into the dumpster. It's someone elses. A childs. MAMA's choice came BEFORE she got pregnant. But, so that they can commit their crime of convenience they pretend there's nothing's wrong with abortion. But they will give an account. Plain and simple it's murder.

People keep saying that god will judge these women for murder. Along time ago in sunday school I learned that god has a plan for all of us. What if his plan for certain women is to have an abortion? I belive a woman has a right to chose. I belive that a women should not be judge for her choices. Life is full of crappy disicions. I dont want children at all, ever, and I pray I never have to contemplate having an abortion because it would be a very hard descion, but it is my descion. Mine and my husbands. If I was single it would be mine alone. I feel for anyone who has had to make a descion in favor of abortion I am sure it was no easy task.

I don't normally share my opinion on something unless I feel stongely about it and abortion is something I feel is wrong. You are painfully stopping a little babies heart. Just because you call it by another name just to make it easier for you to murder an innocent person who cannot fight back does not make it right. You are making another suffer for your mistakes. Take responsibility for your own actions instead of trying to cover them up. It's not the babies fault that you screwed up so why make him/her suffer? Would you of wanted your mother to murder you because she messed up? You were given a chance at life so why rob your baby of a chance? Just because the baby is in your body does not make it your choice. The baby is his/her own person and just because they are not old enough to choose for themselves does not make whatever is "right for you" the right choice! Please give everyone a fair chance at life.

I have very mixed feelings on this subject. One part of me thinks that it should be a personal decison. Although I am a Republican, I do not agree with the Christian extremists who think that abortion is evil. I also don't agree with the Liberals who think it should be legal, with no limits. Part of me thinks that a fetus is not a child, it is not murder when it is still in a woman's body. However, another part of me feels that abortion happens much too often in this country and it is taken for granted. One thing that I feel strongly about is that the government should NOT pay for abortions. I also think that if you do not want to get pregnant, you should not have sex without birth control. There are too many teenagers having abortions, and they should not be having sex in the first place. This is a very hard subject to decide on.

I believe that a woman should have the right to get an abortion especially if the pregnancy is a threat to her health or she had been raped. I am conservative in many aspects but I am not opposed to abortion. I think that instead we need to make adults and teens having children out of wedlock illegal. I oppose people having children out of wedlock and will push for a law that would make having kids out of wedlock illegal. I think that people should marry before they have children.

It's killing, how can you rate it great! Whats wrong with you people. Even if you think it's the womens right (which i think it is BS to think its ok for anyone to kill a person, unborn or not) I still don't see how you could rate it great. That's sick. If you did think it was the women's right you would put OK. Not Great! 5 Stars! Lets all go get pregnant and kill our babies b/c it's GREAT!!! Everyone who gave 5 stars are sick people.

I think abortion is a bad and devastating choice. However, there must be a compromise on this topic. Abortion should be illegal only if there are loopholes concerning rape, incest and health of the mother. Also, contraceptives should be cheap and readily available to all age groups and sex education (real sex education, not watered-down propoganda) should be taught to young teens. This would be a very good compromise, but both sides on this issue (arguably one side more than the other) always revert to their dogmatic all-or-nothing positions.

If it was a case of rape, incest, to save the life of the mother, or knowing the baby was going to die anyways, I would support abortion.

Abortion should never be an option. I am a 20 year old woman and I hate knowing that I have that option if I ever needed it. Abortion is killing a baby. Think about yourself. You were once a baby too. What if your mother had said that she didn't want a baby and had a abortion. How would you like getting your brain sucked out and your limbs ripped off!!

These people pay sick doctors to suck their unborn childrens brains out. Sounds like something from a concentration camp.

Abortion, unfortunately is one of the most controversial issues in modern American politics. However, abortion also makes way for religous fanaticism. Ladies and gentleman, seperation of church and state is an American principle, and it always has been and should remain so. To state that abortion is wrong simply because you are a Christain and believing that it should be illegalized simply because it is un-Christian is ludicrous. The fact is, abortion is not black and white, there is a little bit of gray involved. I'm sure we'd all agree that abortion is neccessary to save the life of the woman, and is also a woman's choice in the case of rape or incest. However, once we get into questions of teen pregnancies and financial situations, the issue becomes deeply controversial. While right now I am not going to go through every possible situation in which an abortion results, I can tell you this- I am pro-choice, like most, not because I condone abortion, but because I condone a woman's right to choose to do this. For those of you supporting abortion only in the case of rape and incest and in order to save the life of the woman, you need a reality check. Abortion is just like gun restrictions- the laws are impossible to enforce. If you make abortion legal in only those cases, then women will find a way, much more unsanitary and unhealthy, to have an abortion, risking death for herself as well, so now to lives are lost. Gun laws are the same way- you can make a law to prevent criminals from getting guns, but they are always going to get them. You simply do not know how to handle the situation until you've been through it. However, for those of you who tell pregnant teens "Don't have an abortion, put your child up for adoption". This child is put up for adoption, very unlikely to find a suitable home, and is raised in orphanages, growing up on the streets, joining gangs and commiting crimes which only furhter damage us as a society. Those on here who post comments related to killing a pregnant mother counts as two murders and such- you are trying to prove abortion as murder simply because of government inconsitantcy, not by your own thoughts and ideas. Pro-lifers tend to put these pregnant woman who may want to have an abortion into a pen like cows, forgetting that they first and foremost are human beings, and because they made one mistake, their lives, as well as their child's, are reduced to poverty. I do not believe abortion should be used as birth control. These women who want to have an abortion, most of them, are well aware of the decision that they are making, and believe it or not, it emotionally affects many of them throughout the rest of their lives. They have to live with the CHOICE that they made, not the government. So in what way is it the government's job to regulate this practice? We pride ourselves on taking responsibility for our own actions- and these women do. Most of them are good women who just made a mistake and are not ready to have a child- and for the rest of their lives, they have to look in the mirror and remember that they had an abortion- it was their choice. They themselves, not President Bush, must take responsibility. And besides for those of you pro-lifers out there, including the President, leave this issue up to the Supreme Court. They made the decision of Roe v. Wade, and they supported it. It is not your constitutional power to regulate abortion.

I'm a women and I NEVER want my freedom of Choice taken away from ME!!!!

As long as people continue to have sex there will always be abortions and the only reason we need a law like Roe vs.Wade is to protect women from being butchered with coat hangers. Otherwise it is absolutely a woman's private and personal choice to have an abortion or not, just as it is your personal choice to believe what ever you want to believe. I am glad for the people who have children and love them, but the reality is there are too many who don't. This shouldn't even be an issue and people should mind their own business. Labeling women murderers is ludicrous and nothing more than an attempt to suppress those who don't believe the same you.

Abortion=manslaughter. If you don't want children use protection or learn to abstain. I see no difference between homicide and abortion they both result in the lost of life. Abortion should have been illegal, and any person would agree that it is immoral.

Protect our Constiutional Rights and the health and safety of the American women.

I gave it three stars because I am not for it or against it, and I am a man so I can’t imagine the turmoil that goes through a mother’s head. Abortion is an evil necessity in our modern society. If we didn’t allow abortion these women, who are so desperate, would be taking care of the issue them selves, in an alley with a coat hanger behind a dumpster. The procedure is not done in the name of the American populous. The mother who has the procedure and the doctor are the only person's at fault. They have to deal with their actions in their lives and it is no one else's business. I am very sure that people who get abortions do not simply walk out and start their lives again! I am sure they go through tough mental issues that change them for life. Still the threats of people and an increased number of people seeing the procedure as "a fashionable answer to a big problem" still exists and for this reason I hope forever that abortion does keep the horrible negative connotation that it does have! So the picketing of places that give abortions should still continue. But abortion only directly effects the mother the doctor and regrettably the fetus, it is not our job to cast judgment, there is only one being or greater being who can do that!

My rating is based on it being an important issue, though probably not one I'd consider to be a political one. I personally am not a big fan of abortion, but I can't say that I know what's best for other people. This is a tough situation, and I know there are circumstances that I can't possibly know about that influences this kind of decision. It plays deeply on the "definition of life" and "the rights of the mother vs. the rights of the unborn child". For me, personally (speaking as a non-religious person), as soon as the egg and sperm connect, that's the defining moment of life--no other catalyst is really required for it to be a life, so long as everything goes smoothly. I would encourage people not to choose this course of action, but I wouldn't force them not to, and I really can't force my beliefs on another person. I resent that people use this as a form of birth control (and some actually do, which is terribly sad). I worry about those who feel so strongly against abortion that they resort to harassment and even murder--please take into consideration that these acts of violence only makes your cause look bad, and would only make people more opposed to your views. This is a difficult and painful issue to deal with, and I encourage those who may consider doing this to consider carefully this and the alternatives carefully.

People who perform abortions should be in prison for 1st degree . Most of the time its milktoast, liberal, lets let everbody just do what they want, hippie, communist people who support this issue. I dont i count my self one of them. Im one of the normal, sound American in the world who believe in the value of human life. THATS RIGHT!!!I SAID IT!!!!

I do feel the abortion issue is of great concern to a free society like ours. As a compassionate conservative, I would have to vote against abortion unless there were special circumstances. I don't think there can be a middle ground philisophically or morally, but I imagine there will always be some kind of compromise politically. What makes abortion so very difficult is that the decision affects the lives of two individuals, the potential mother and the fetus or human being that is forming. I believe that the beginning of life is at conception, to me that is a logical assertion. I also feel the "choice" involved, for the woman, must enter in before conception. Men and women have to take responsibility for the conception of life, the life of a fellow human being. But I also believe that abortion should be made available in certain circumstances, if only for humane reasons. That would be the compassionate solution. I believe life is sacred, but some women will be made terribly vulnerable by an antiabortion law. Just as there is justification a times for "murder" such as self defense, etc, logically there should follow for abortion also. I do believe some women would risk their own life to get rid of a pregnancy. Also, there will always be the actuality of rape and incest. I also worry about young girls and what recourse they would have if there were no alternatives. But, only for special and extreme circumstances should abortion be allowed. Because human beings are not perfect, there should be times when it is allowable. Using abortion as birthconrol, though, is not moral. I would personally vote for deciding in favor of life.

I don't see many people even trying to consider a guys perspective. I will be the first to admit that there are a$$ hole guys that will not do there best by there child, but many are willing to take what ever responsibility they can. My ex aborted my baby and my views carried no weight at all. we had already agreed I would raise the baby by myself I was being an adult but more important a father. Also how can women justify abortion and then say a man should be forced to give hild support. That is simply a contradiction. A man and a woman should both take care of the child that the man "yes, I said man" and woman concieved. I take nothing away from woman having to deal with a very hard nine months but any man worth his own life will at the least be there and do everything he is capable of in order to help and be a true man. My choice should've mattered 9 months isn't that long, I should be allowed to raise my child. To pro choicers if men have no opinion on abortion why should they have to pay child support. Lets at least be consistant and accountable for our choices

Its been said before - abortion is murder!

Abortion should be kept legal. I would highly condemn it and not reccommend anyone to have sex just becuase they could get an abortion. Science has once again made life even easier. What about if someone is raped? Huh? Population must be kept under control- abortion helps that. Instaed of children ruining thier lives, they have another chance to go on the right track. Abortion is the women's choice, and only the women's choice. The government has NO right to say that women have to have these unwanted babies. What if you use protected sex but still get pregnant? There is no 100% too prevent pregnancy. Having abortion should not be a political issue. Its more of a religous and personal issue. Government should have NO say in it.

abortion is murder

I put off rating this because it doesn't matter what my opinion is, if you disagree you will put it as unhelpful, regardless of it my points are useful. But, I decided to give it a go anyway. I give this a three for many reasons. I am pro-choice. This means that I think a woman should have a right to choose what she does. This does not mean that I am a murderer, nor does it mean that I support every abortion out there. Girls that are having their second and third abortions need to stop having unprotected sex or give the kids up for adoption. I think that you should take responsibility for your actions, however I think that you have to consider that a lot of people getting abortions WOULD NOT be able to give this child-to-be (cells are not yet a person) a good living environment. If those that say they are pro-life 100% say that this doesn't matter, I proprose this: If a woman who has AIDS or who actively uses drugs such as crack is pregnant, I feel it would be a service to the child to NOT bring it into the world. There is NO REASON whatsoever why a child should be born into the world with AIDS. There is no reason why a child should be born with brain defects due to the mother's actions. These are some of the cases in which I feel it is ok to have an abortion. People say they are pro-life, but are they pro-goodlife. Why put a child into misery and poverty? That's not going to do anything but cause more problems for society. Also, I want to make a point that Dorkovitch Chamalsky made. Abortion should NOT be political. It has nothing to do with politics or how the country runs, how the country deals with other nations, so they should not have the power to say if this is legal or not. Nor should they have the power to declare drugs illegal, but that is for another rating. In either case, a woman should have the choice to choose. No, not all abortions are good, but not all are bad. Lastly, I leave you with this, assuming you have even read any of this. If abortions are made illegal, don't think that it will stop them. Women will still resort to this, but it will not be in a hospital-like environment. They will choose un-sterile, dangerous methods. It is the same with anything that is made illegal. It will still take place, it will just be more dangerous. For those of you who rate this as unhelpful, realize that the definition of helpful doesnt include "everything I believe to be true". Feel free to email me about why this is unhelpful. It would make my day.

I see the perpetual logic of the left in many of the pro-abortion comments: Kill the innocent to protect the guilty. Here's a little dare for the evil. We'll let abortion remain legal but require every girl and woman to get and observe an ultrasound the day before the procedure and if she still goes forward with the operation she must take personal responsible for the disposal of the remains only after she identifies them. The left loves choice when the person is ignorant and uninformed so let us try information and knowledge for a change. The truth will set you free.

Abortion is most assuredly is a political and moral issue. You don't have a right to dispose of your inconvenient relative, post partum child (don’t fret Mr. Peter Singer of Princeton is working on eliminating that taboo.), sick person or your noisome neighbor even though you might be able to do it in a most discreet and private manner. There is reason for these restrictions on your freedom of choice and right to privacy: it is sheer barbarism and the law of the brutal jungle where the strong oppress the weak. For a woman to be so morally corrupt that she opts to slaughter a human being at its most vulnerable and weakest point in development is such an obscenity that she should be shunned for the mere contemplation of the act and not just the act itself. A small additional point, in the course of your life, you will again be vulnerable and reliant upon the mercy and care of others as you age and lose the ability to care for yourself do you really want to support the culture of death and the supremacy of convenience at that time of life as well? As to the issue of adoption there are currently 1.5 to 2.0 million abortions a year and there are about 5 million married couples wishing to adopt but not having children available. Is that what people mean when they repeat their mantra of "every child a wanted child"? Wanted by whom? NickDanger's point is what? That sexual intercourse is only enjoyed by people who are irresponsible and able to dispose of their mistakes. Isn't something akin to saying that Drunks are the best drivers? NickDanger is indeed a danger to logic.

It's funny how the Right screams bloody murder every time government steps in to regulate something for the public good, EXCEPT where sex and reproduction are concerned. Interestingly, those most vociferously opposed to abortion tend to be the same sour-souled puritans who oppose all forms of birth control (thus increasing the risk of unwanted pregnancy), who believe sex itself is bad unless it is done specifically to procreate and the participants don't enjoy it too much. When will they learn: you cannot pass a law that will stop people from having sex, and--unless you can somehow engineer a society where all babies will be born into caring families and communities, where all potential mothers are guaranteed the resources to raise their children without destroying their own lives, where no teenaged girl ever need fear being beaten or turned out of doors for revealing a pregnancy, and where rape and sexual abuse are eradicated--you CANNOT pass a law that will stop people from having abortions. All you will do is push it underground, make it more dangerous, and enlarge the criminal class even further than you're already doing with the "war on drugs." Government has a legitimate role to play in regulating LEGAL abortion -- it might, for example, benefit society if abortions were restricted to the first trimester except for medical reasons, thus motivating those who need them to get them earlier, before the fetus becomes viable. It should not ban it outright. For one thing, as a practical matter, criminalizing MAY result in fewer fertilized eggs being "killed" but it WILL result in more scared 17-year-old girls getting killed by coathanger abortions. That was the pre-Roe-v-Wade reality that the pro-criminalization crowd ignores. Or perhaps doesn't care about--they tend to assign more "worth" to the "innocent" life in the womb than to the non-virginal life of the womb's owner. But the main reason government should stay out of this issue is that there is NO CONSENSUS, nor any chance of consensus, on the question of when a developing human organism becomes a PERSON, with full legal rights. Does it happen at birth? Viability? Sentience? A gleam in daddy's eye? Each position will find its steadfast adherents. Given the dangers of illegal abortion and the illogic of assigning all the characteristics of personhood to embryonic or blastular life, viability might be a workable compromise as a cutoff for legal abortion. Otherwise, since a woman of childbearing age is universally (I hope) accepted as being a person with unalienable rights, government should give the greatest weight to HER life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and legislate in favor of more freedom. Keep this debate in the churches, hearts and minds of the people, where it belongs.

I am for abortion being legal during early term pregnancies, but not late term. Bill Clinton disgusted me beyond belief when he vetoed the ban on partial brith abortions with the life of the mother exception. As far as human life beginning at conception goes, is a planted tree seed a tree the moment it is planted? No. It has the potential to be a tree. A fertilized human egg is not a human being, and neither is a blood clot. However, I believe it should be illegal to have an abortion after a certain point, maybe after the first 3 months.

Why did I give this a 1? Because a '1' rating pertains to terrible, which is a good word for describing abortion. Those who say "We should not impede on how a woman treats her body" aren't getting the point. The point is we have laws against the slaughter of human beings. You cannot reduce a life to a part of a woman's body, because it is a life INSIDE a womans body. Are you saying that if it weren't inside the woman's body, if it were in some artificial womb we could still kill it? We could end the bum bum bum of his or her heart? Tell me, how and where would a baby develope other than the woman's womb? It's a baby, a real, live, human being. In cases of rape or incest, I am going to be extremely blunt here and say, that's tough. I don't know the horrors of being a victim of such a crime, but I do know that death should not be the solvant to such a problem. The human life is so complex, and has so much potential, that it should be a crime to kill it. Wait, it is. Wait, it's stil happening in the abortion clinic down-town. It's a life that can feel blunt pain. "But who are you to choose?" It's a life that could has a future. "But who are you to choose for that woman!" She already made her choice, by getting in bed with whoever she got in bed with. "But what about rape?" It's a life. Why do people think everything can be reduced to easiness? "WHO ARE YOU TO IMPOSE YOUR MORAL BELIEFS ON ANOTHER WOMAN?" Do we have a law against murder? "Well but...." Do we have a law against murder? "That's not the point! It's her choice!" Disregarding your political views, or for fear of what point I am trying to make: Would killing a baby OUTSIDE of her mother be wrong? "Yes." Why? "Because it's taking that life away, and it's painful" Through abortion, you are taking that life away. It is painful. I ask you, America. What right do we have to impose our circumstances on another human being? We have established it's a blood pumping, breathing, growing, learning, pain feeling life. Why do we get to take the future away from someone? For those of you who are wondering, I do not condone the death penalty. •From the diary of a 12 year old•

1 star because this should not be a political issue. It is a personal issue, relevant only to the prospective parents.