As outlined in my Position Papers, I don’t give a rat’s behind about abortion itself. Make it illegal, I don’t care. Keep it legal, I don’t care. But, I do care greatly about consistency in our laws and their application. Abortion is, without a doubt, the most disingenuous topic there is. Following are some reasons…
Disconnect #1: Is it a life, or isn’t it? *How* the fetus/baby/whatever is terminated is irrelevant. Doesn’t matter if it was at the doing of the mother or someone else. Doesn’t matter if it was in an abortion clinic, or during a fiery car crash by a drunk driver. It’s either a life worthy of protection… and prosecution if unnaturally terminated… or it’s not. To charge someone with a crime such as double-murder in the event of a car crash, but then allow another mother to choose to artificially terminate her pregnancy without consequence, is inconsistent and repugnant. I’ll say it again, I don’t care which one we choose, but we as a society need to pick one, and live with our decision.
Disconnect #2: Is there an inconsistency with people who oppose abortion but favor the death penalty? Actually, no there is no inconsistency whatsoever. What people fail to acknowledge is that the circumstances behind each is wholly different. A person who opposes abortion does so because they view the baby/fetus/whatever as a life… an innocent life that has itself done nothing wrong. The same person may favor the death penalty. The difference in the positions is that the person sentenced to death is in that situation due to the choices they made (wrongful conviction possibility notwithstanding) of their own free will. In other words, the person sentenced to death did it to them self.
Disconnect #3: The argument itself. One side argues from the point-of-view of the woman. The other side argues from the point-of-view of the baby. Simply put, as long as the two sides are arguing two completely different things there will never be a resolution.
These disconnects are prime examples of why I almost never discuss abortion. Nobody’s mind is ever changed. No progress is ever made. No one is ever willing to even concede a good point, for fear they’ll lose the argument. Essentially, it’s just people spinning their wheels and it never ends.
Here’s where you will see a Centrist with a strong opinion.