Daffodil

Yes, you are.

I am continually amazed by your view of moral relativity. It's like you believe NOTHING is inherently wrong and everyone should be allowed to do whatever makes them feel good at any given time and whatever you want to do is peachy-keen and don't dare anybody tell you that it is wrong... Your words:"would require women to do something you totally do not believe in, to us that is no different than your efforts to require women to do something that we just as strongly do not believe in right now, today". So because an act, be it abortion, or rape, or thievery, or child abuse, is what YOU want to do then it's all right? Or conversely, if there is a crime you don't believe should be criminal, say extortion, then anyone making you abide by an anti-extortion law is forcing you to behave in manner you don't like? Life isn't all about you and your whims and desires minute-to-minute! Pro-life people believe abortion is the taking of a human life. Just as you hopefully would condemn taking the life of a 3 day old newborn, we condemn taking the life of a gestating human-to-be. Yes, I want to criminalize the taking of human life, regardless of it's stage of development. It's tough to sugar-coat those words for the sake of not "hurting anybody's feelings".

OK, let's say you hear someone passionately advocating murder, rape, child abuse...would you not strongly and vociferously condemn that person? Or would you be "polite and respectful " towards them? When a judge metes out a sentence to a convicted killer or rapist or terrorist, does he not call the person, or at least the deed "evil"? C'mon, folks. Let's not be politically correct to the point of ridiculousness. YOU feel strongly about murder, rape, car jacking, child abuse...I feel that abortion is most assuredly murder ! Why should I act so polite and respectful about it? It's because you have convinced yourself that abortion is just a choice...like buying a Buick instead of a Jeep, having blonde hair instead of brown...that you speak the words abortion and respectful together amazes me. Who respects the human rights of the child-to-be?

Point taken.

Let's turn back the clock to about 150 years ago. Debate about slavery. A pro-slavery advocate uses your words: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. What gets me is when people speak out so hatefully against someone who made a decision that is perfectly legal in our country". Now, 1955. Issue: Government sanctioned segregation. A segregationist using your words: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. What gets me is when people speak out so hatefully against someone who made a decision that is perfectly legal in our country". Thank goodness for people who speak out against a perfectly-legal act.

I hold little hope for you anyways. How someone can be on the fence about this issue bewilders me. You hate my words...OK. I hate the act of abortion. Are words and abortion morally equivalent? I don't think so. Slaveholders once hated the rhetoric of emancipation advocates. Ant-Nazi sentiment had you arrested and jailed, or terminated. The Taliban hates the rhetoric of democracy. I can live with you hating my words. It must be difficult to hear that abortion stops a beating heart. It really DOES stop a beating heart. I didn't make that up. You hate my words more than you hate the act of stopping a developing human's heart. Hmmm. My sympathy.

We MUST judge and condemn criminal, illegal, immoral behavior. Can we love the sinner? Yes. But we must also condemn her for her immoral actions. Those are two different ideas. Otherise we would judge no one, there would be no laws, no prosecutions, no punishment for wrongdoing and lawlessless would be the law of the land.

Carlene,' Yes, convenience encompasses no money/job, no support system, no place to live. In this day and age there are all kinds of safety nets....medicaid, Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), food banks, shelters, rent assistance, cash assistance, etc. True, I would love to see more organizations as Birthright, Catholic family Charities...in our culture of abortion on demand, for any reason, it is unfashionable to openly support these groups. But think back to 150 years ago....it was DANGEROUS in the South to preach anti-slavery sentiment--imagine !! Contrast that with our current law which criminalizes it. Just because the current popular opinion is that abortion is acceptable in no way means that will be the thinking in the future. Your wonderful story about your wonderful Tommy illustrates the reason why abortion should be illegal. It is too fast, too easy a choice, and so devastatingly permanent. Plus the part that pro-abortion folks hate to hear...it interrupts what would otherwise be a living, breathing human person. Undeniable fact.

OK, then YOU have no right to make laws at all against anything because I may "disagree" that the action constitutes a crime. So we should live in a lawless society. That's the logical conclusion to your argument. The Taliban doesn't allow women to vote, to hold jobs, to walk the streets alone...hey, they believe in their actions, but in this country we believe it is a crime to keep women from voting. So the real answer to your whole point is: As a society we legislate, we adjudicate. Times change, mores change. As a society we decide what is right and wrong at any given time in history. Yes, we tell each other what to do. My work is to change the law I find reprehensible--that allowing abortion. I have no problem telling you that it should be criminal, as society tells us that murder, rqae, extortion, child abuse is criminal. If I don't like something being criminal, I'll vote for those who share my point of view. But please don't say "Don't make me live by your rules". I want you to live by my rules just as you want me to live by yours, or you would instead be preaching anarchy.

You sound like a nice person, but this "I won't belittle people because of their choices" stuff is wrong. Would you say the same to a murderer, a rapist, a car thief? Of course you wouldn't ! YOU would condemn their actions! Abortion is murder, only the victim cannot scream, cannot kick and scratch and fight for his or her life. But neither can a baby, a toddler, but we consider the murder of those helpless creatures a crime. The truth of it is women abort almost exclusively because the child is inconvenient at that given point in their lives. They look for a way to rationalize the extinction of their baby's life and goodness knows they don't have to look very far....try this forum. All kinds of people will tell them..hey, it's a clump of cells. But that clump of cells is a living, developing being who will be a PERSON if allowed to. Why have juries convicted people of 2 murders when the victim was pregnant? Because they sanely recognized the two lives.

Mark, Your words: "I just have a need to stop you from forcing me to live by your rules", "and if I disagree with you, why do you get to be the one to decide, and set the rules, about how I live my life"? I believe that rape is wrong, murder is wrong, extortion is wrong. EVEN IF YOU THINK THEY'RE RIGHT, I, AND SOCIETY, THINK THEY ARE WRONG AND WILL PUNISH THOSE WHO COMMIT THEM. It's not all about you, Mark. Civil society does not hinge on making sure anybody who wants to do anything should be allowed to. We live by the rule of law. If you wish to live in a society where there are no laws ( laws being "someone telling you what to do"), then you need to live somewhere on an island, all alone. It is ridiculous and childish to make the comments you have made.

I'm sorry, but to rationalize the killing of two of your babies because their death afforded you another child, in this case a daughter, is so evil that it is hard to describe. Hey--how about a poor woman killing her toddlers because she can't afford them, but now childless she can afford college, and makes better money and finally decide she has the money to have another child and raise the child with a better standard of living? So it is justified that she eliminated the two toddlers because NOW she has a beautiful little girl. How evil. Yes, evil. Oh no ! I just made her feel bad about her action, just judged the morality of her actions ! How dare I do that? She's an American, thank you ,and no one should be allowed to tell her that her action was wrong! After all, it's all relative, right? Nothing I want to do should be illegal because I have a RIGHT to do it. And please don't make me "feel bad" about my choices. How very monstrous. Man, very sad.

If you think that any action is your right, who is anybody to tell you not to do it? If it feels good, do it, huh? You narcisstic person. Yes, society has a right to make laws and tell you it is NOT right to kill. You think those cells are not life? If allowed to gestate 9 months there would be a baby born...a baby comprised of a whole lotta cells....not a potao, not an iPod, not a coup de ville...but a baby. A baby which is afforded protection the millisecond he or she comes out of the birth canal, but not before. That's what screwed up. Your moral relativism is shameful and someday compassionate people will make your "death choice" ILLEGAL again. Go ahead, watch Gadgetgirl's video of an abortion and tell us a child was not murdered. I'll bet you cannot.