Abortion

It seems the Supreme Court will be limiting abortion. I can only imagine this will throw fire back onto the culture war. Ross Douthat makes a pretty compelling case against abortion and specifically abortion laws in the Times this week. It's a strange subject for myself as I get older with kids of my own. What I suppose has changed in my thinking is that it's become pretty undeniable to me that a fetus at an early stage - from any rational way of thinking - must be considered a form of life. The position that I might've considered as a younger person - that a fetus unable to survive on its own isn't life yet, does not hold up to rational scrutiny. If any one of us were on some form of life support for 9 months knowing we would be "alive" after the support - would we opt for non-existence? 

And Douthat makes the point that if we want to lower abortions performed (an admirable goal for pro life or pro choice folks) that laws against it actually work. Supposedly, Texas has seen the number of abortions cut in half since enacting their own draconian law? Not that I support the law, but the overarching point he makes holds.

But I still can't imagine an America where a scared, not-fully-developed brain-wise 17-20 year old girl who gets pregnant from a boyfriend or a fling is expected to suddenly drop her life plan to raise a child. We must consider this situation realistically - is this a good life for the child? Is it good for society? Good for the mother? The reality is that many women in this situation opt for abortion - whether legal or not. I don't think we can consider these women murderers - do you? Does anyone?

It's not an easy issue.