Big sigh... Here I go!
I am PRO-LIFE, but not totally ANTI-CHOICE. For me, I believe that from conception a baby is a live, individual human being. No matter what the biological terms are for the different stages of development.
Because I am pro-life, and this developing human is totally defenseless, it should be protected. And like Pale, I do believe that this life IS Constitutionally protected. Therefore, I believe that the original Roe vs Wade ruling and all since regarding this upholding abortion as a right are in error. And the error should be corrected.
Laws can be made, but on a national scale especially, anything in violation of the Constitution should be struck down. That is why we have an amendment process. The whole abortion issue has circumvented that process that should have occurred to bring it to it's current position.
This is another situation of a whole industry driving the national sentiment. There IS an abortion industry out there, and it's been fighting tooth and nail against partial birth or late-term abortions. (An abhorrent act in itself, which should be totally banned nationwide.) Second trimester, I think, should also be banned. When our medical technology has come to the point that premature babies are being saved as early as mid-fourth month it becomes apparent that there is something to this "living being" thing. While fourth and fifth month babies are still very touch and go, sixth month (still 2nd trimester folks!) and on are becoming very commonly viable.
The whole issue is not nearly as "either-or" as it once was. With DNA, we've found that the fetus is individual from the mother. We're finding earlier and earlier survival outside the womb. We're seeing manslaughter and even murder charges and convictions concerning acts against pregnant women.
In some ways, we've come full circle in recognizing and honoring this new life.
Yet it makes no sense: a woman can walk into a clinic and have the baby ripped from her body, yet if she were hit by a drunk driver crossing the road to the clinic, he could be charged, tried, convicted and sentenced for at least vehicular manslaughter for killing her baby? This is insane!
Because of the status of the issue, where it has been for the last 35 years or so, etc., I believe that a fair settlement would be for the Federal government to remain passive on it, allowing states to set their own regulations. And at the same time, work on improving options, education and prevention to make this a truly rare situation.
