‘So I’m not sure about when life begins but I can tell you this: I wholehearedly support a woman’s right to choose.”

Ms. Wallis makes her point well with regards to labels and terminology with regards to the abortion issue - but, like most with her position, she doesn’t come out and say that she desires a woman the ‘right to choose an abortion’ - it’s always phrased ‘right to choose’- and then stops.

Rarely do I see in print, or hear, a proponent of legalized abortion literally using the phrase ‘right to choose an abortion.’

My own view? I think internally, because of God’s imprint of on us and our intrinsic knowledge of right and wrong, people literally find it challenging to admit that the ‘choice’ is the taking of innocent human life.

Ms. Wallis, if life is about choice, should a man have the choice to rape a woman? That is a choice. Life is not about freedom of choice, but the freedom to chose to do the right and moral thing.

Kim:
I think I sense exactly where you are. It is a dilemma when an issue that in one’s own mind, is not black and white, is treated by the most vocal groups as black and white. Most of the time I feel that I have no voice in this.
The abortion issue equivalent of the famous ‘you are either with us or with the terrorist’!
No rational discussion would be [possible in that atmosphere no matter how many ‘first amendments’ we have.
.

To A CENTRIST:

Life IS about choice. If a man chooses to commit a crime such as rape, the he will pay the consequences for breaking the law. Should a woman who is raped and becomes pregnant not have the choice to have an abortion?

A woman choosing to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is not illegal. It is not a crime, regardless of one’s moral code. And, you say “Life is not about freedom of choice, but the freedom to choose…….”. We may not agree with one’s choices, but thank god we have the freedom to decide for ourselves.

To Khaled:

Thanks for getting my point. There aren’t many issues that are black and white. And I agree that it is extremely difficult to have a rational discussion with someone who doesn’t see the gray.

I’m sorry but this IS a black and white issue. Either you believe in the sanctity of life or you don’t. You have chosen an arbitrary date for the beginning of life. As a mother you knew very well that there was life growing inside you at the very moment you learned you were pregnant. How can you say that snuffing out that life is a legitimate choice? Call it what it is: murder.

No, you approve of the killing of unborn children. That makes you pro-abortion period. How sad for you that you want to justify such evil thoughts with the user-friendly label of “pro choice”.

Unfortunately, my experience in this blogspace is that the avowed conservatives, as a group, aren’t very good at admitting that the gray areas exist. I’ve found that to be true in the real world, as well. I don’t know why that is.

As I’ve said many times, I think there is a common cause that everyone could agree to, at least in principle: The goal needs to be to decrease the demand for abortion. I’ve always felt that the tough cases need to be left to those directly involved. The common cases need to be seen as situations that were completely preventable in the first place.

Exactly where is the “gray area” between life and death? Ms. Wallace, as a mother you knew that there was a new life growing inside your body the moment you discovered you were pregnant. Yet you say you’re not sure when life begins.

Snuffing out an unborn human life isn’t a “choice”. It’s murder, plain and simple. You may think you can rationalize it by giving it a user-friendly name like “pro-choice” but unless you oppose all killing of the unborn, you ARE pro-abortion.

hs writes, ‘my experience…is that the conservatives, as a group, aren’t very good at admitting that the grey areas exist. I’ve found that to be true in the real world, as. I don’t know why that is.’

Please expand on this. I’m sincerely interested in knowing what you think are these ‘gray areas.’

Mike: I used to be vehemently anti-abortion, as you are. Permit me to share a true story that pushed me firmly to the position I hold today: that truly elective abortion can and should be eliminated by eliminating the demand (there are lots better ways to prevent a child from being born). However, there are a relatively small number of hard cases that need the option, and the choice to exercise that option must be left to the individuals involved.

Here’s the story:

I knew a couple some years ago, when we were all members of an independent, fundamentalist church where abortion was frequently (with loud amen’s) preached against. This couple had been through a number of miscarriages, and when she got pregnant, an early test showed that her baby would be a ‘brain stem’ baby, and would probably not survive outside the womb for more than a few hours. As they struggled their way through this, on top of the tragedy of carrying a child that would not survive, they had to deal with many people who immediately shunned them when they did not reject out of hand the doctor’s recommendation that she have an abortion. She eventually did carry the child to near-term, gave birth, and the baby died within hours.

The church’s response was, in my opinion, totally wrong. The treated this young couple like pariahs because they openly considered an abortion as an easier alternative to what happened. Even worse, there were a few who got all holier than thou and stated that if they had just had enough faith, the baby would have been born healthy. Where was the compassion? Where was the Christian Love? Shortly after this, this couple left that church where they were no longer welcome.

What would YOU say, Mike, to someone in this dilemma? I know exactly what I would say: “I care about you. I will sit with you when you make this decision, and I will support you either way.”