Name:   copperline - Subject:   Thanks Date:   4/4/2016 11:33:57 AM

Even after years of thinking about this issue, I have to say that I never would have thought to argue the pro-choice position like this.   I guess the entire notion of punishing a woman who chose to terminate their pregnancy was just so terrible, like piling on suffering when someone is already severely distressed...   I rejected the idea outright and hadn't thought to carry anti-abortion thinking to this logical conclusion.    If it's going to be illegal, then everyone involved has committed an illegal act and the punishments prescribed by law fall on everyone's shoulders.

Of course, I would never want punishment because I don't think a crime has been committed....but the logic in your argument is compelling because it points out the severe contradiction required to criminalize abortion.

Rowe v Wade comes as close to a solution to this complicated problem as any law could, by providing a framework for the decision making process.   Early on, it's a woman's choice.... as the pregnancy progresses to full term there is a legally prescribed transition to acknowledge the emergence of a seperate & viable life.   That's the best that we can do, I think.    Opponents of legalized abortion tend to think that my position is completely devoid of sympathy, cruel & barbaric... but the opposite is true.   I really struggle with weight of this one, there are no easy answers here.  

That said, I regret to acknowledge that we have Donald Trump to thank for bringing this one to center stage nationally.   In his shallow, 'I just say the first thing that pops into my head' way... he exposed the bottom line of anti-abortion thinking and made it necessary for lots of people to re-examine the outcome of the position they had been taking.  

So now I have two things to be grateful to The Donald for... the first one being that he is keeping Ted Cruz at bay.....