I just read this AP article. I have always known abortion was a delicate topic, and I have written about it from different angles before. Even though I am pro-choice, and always have been, I tried to understand the other side, or at least find a compromise. But somehow this article made me realize the reality of abortion. It is not just an on-going debate, but in some states it is against the law, or at least they are trying to make it this way. I mean, I knew this too, but for whatever reason it didn’t sink in. I could not fathom an actual law against it, no matter how much I read. I knew there were clinics where protests were happening every day. I read stories of horrible things happening to women who had abortions, or tried to have them. But it all seemed abstract, unreal, or untrue.

I wanted to blog about this, but I don’t even know where to begin. I am seriously so perplexed right now I cannot form my thoughts into coherence. The US has some of the most clinical abortion laws, and now even those are being challenged. For those of you who don’t know, you cannot legally have an elective abortion past the first trimester, since shortly after that your baby is viable, and it is no longer abortion, but rather considered infanticide. A lot of other countries do not have such laws, and women can have abortions while eight months pregnant, essentially inducing early labor and having their newborn’s neck snapped. While the thought of that makes me sick, I realize the predominant concern is at what point a fetus becomes a baby, and how do you know whether you are having an abortion or killing a baby. There is no clear answer to this. Some say the third trimester. Others say five months (second trimester). So, in all fairness (at least in my opinion), it made sense to make the cut off the first trimester (three months), far in advance of anyone’s definition of a viable infant.

Yet that seems to not be enough. I don’t understand how the government can impose on a woman to continue on with an unwanted pregnancy (for whatever reason, as that is her business). I cannot comprehend the intrusiveness of this.

Then there is the argument that no one is asking the woman to take care of the baby, as she can put it up for adoption. I personally know people who have done this, and that was there prerogative. It may or may not have been their decision (there were familial/religious reasons for these instances), but it was not the government forcing them to do this. Nor are any of these people thrusting their beliefs on anyone else.

Which brings me to the people who have religious qualms with abortion. They say the woman is going to hell for murder. Well, if they think she is going to hell anyway, then why not let that sort itself out? Won’t she be punished enough once she gets there? And as for murdering the fetus, well, won’t God take care of that too? I am not going to get too much into the religious implications, because that is an entire drawn out blog post of itself. But if these people have so much faith in God, then shouldn’t they have enough faith that He can take care of this Himself? Does He really need them?

I have many opinions on all of these points. But I realize they are opinions. Others seem to have hard facts, and in reading this article (along with a few more for good measure), I seem to get the impression that a lot of these facts are just opinions adamantly, and perhaps vehemently, disguised.