[Stingy Jack]

I still have yet to hear how these people who are calling abortion "murder" can say that it is okay under extreme circumstances like "rape" or "incest". If a girl gets raped at 13 and becomes pregnant, is not aborting the child still murder? Or is it something else? If it is still murder, then you cannot say that abortion is wrong because it is "murder", because you believe that murder is okay at times. If it is something else, I would like to know what that is. I would like to know how it changes from murder, to not murder simply by the method that the child was conceived. Also, if a pregnant woman accidentally fell down the stairs and killed her child, should she be charged with manslaughter?

I think gothic-chick is the only pro-lifer here who has fully realized her views (although I disagree with them). When I speak of abortion, I don't speak in terms of morality. People are so fucked up in general when it comes to morals that preaching morality is like commanding a rock to turn into a flower. When it comes to things like abortion, I have to resort to utilitarianism. Abortion is wrong, yes. But I think it is the lesser of the two evils. People have been aborting their unwanted pregnancies for EVER, through all sorts of hideous and dangerous methods. And they will continue to do so, whether it is legal or not. But, say you threaten mothers with the death penalty if they abort their children, and so we have more and more women opting to give birth to their unwanted babies. The result:

1. A surplus of unwanted kids up for adoption. They'll be bursting orphanages at the seams.

2. Children living in homes with parents who do not want them. They will grow up abused, unloved, and will probably become criminals.

3. Children living in homes with parents who can't afford them. Suddenly MY taxes go through the roof so that I can help support all these kids. And, after a while, I won't be able to support MY own family!

And that's just for starters. Abortion may be immoral (I am undecided on that issue), but I think forcing unwanted kids to burst into our society may be even worse. In the first case, you are harming a single life. In the second, you are affecting entire communities, if not the whole nation. Now, some of you may say "You can't place a value on a life. You can't say that 2 lives are worth more than 1." Maybe you'd be right. But I do not think that 1 life should be able to exist if it calls for the misery of countless other lives who had no control over the situation to begin with.