About abortion:  The question, "When does life begin?" is just plain dumb.  (read on)......?
820629
Life begins when the sperm fertilizes the egg - whether it happens the old-fashioned way or in a lab somewhere.
51012
wow, i'm really surprised at all the abortion-is-murder stuff here.  a human embryo is a microscopic clot of cells and is hardly even visible to the naked eye, much less a fully-developed organism, for many months into a pregnancy.\n\nit's difficult to draw a line in the sand and say "this is when life begins" but i have a hard time agreeing with the notion that something qualifies as a person if it is just a little clump of cells without organs or specialized tissue of any kind, that is entirely dependent on its host for absolutely every function of life there is (except for cellular division).\n\nobviously, that little clump of cells represents a potential to become a human life, and it may be wrong to prevent that potential from being realized, but it is hardly as cut-and-dried as "this is MURDER."\n\nto answer the question, i think the answer depends on your own personal ethics.  lots of people feel that it is wrong to get an abortion because you just don't feel like having a baby.  people have an objection to doing such a serious thing for reasons that are frivolous.  lots of people say "well, you went out and had the fun part of having sex, and now you should have to bear the responsibility that comes with it.  it's not right to get an abortion every time you get knocked up because you had a one-night stand."\n\non the other hand, when someone is raped, a lot of people's objections to abortion end there, because it was not an irresponsible decision by the mother.  she had the act forced on her in a traumatizing, violent and demeaning way and it can scar her for life, and it is bad enough that it happened to her - she shouldn't also have to spend the next 20 years trapped into raising a baby she never asked for and that constantly serves as a reminder of her humiliating experience.\n\nof course, all of this is deeply personal and everyone will have different opinions about it.  also, a lot of people who say that "no, nothing justifies abortion" probably have never been faced with such a difficult decision, and if THEY were in the same situation, their moral indignation and black-and-white absolutism would probably evaporate pretty quickly.
800853
Disgusting and barbaric.  I am pro choice.  I am even more pro choice up until the 2nd trimester.  Once the first trimester is over, abortion should no longer be a topic of interest.
1091407
I get your joke!  If there is a 14 month waiting list, then the baby would already be born!  Good one!  (I had to explain that for the rest of the peeps out there)\n\n  I am a pro-lifer too~\n\nI like how you took a serious subject and put a little humor in it!\nGood show!
776083
Abortion stinks!!!!!!!!!!!
74448
Is your question why?  Is that a photo of Richard backwards and inverted or whatever, the guy with the pipe?\n\nI think you mean liberal in the common useage, meaning someone whose ideology is prochoice.\n\nFirst, I am not stupid.  The premise that I am stupid because of my political ideology, well, bodes poorly on you and not on mainstream conservatives.  Of course you can't spell the word why so you probably aren't that intelligent yourself, but I digress.\n\nWhy am I pro-choice? Specifically pro choice is someone who wants to see abortion remain legal in America because of many reasons.  My reason is what if the life of the mother is at risk or in danger, and in a recent unanimous Supreme Court decision two weeks ago, the New Hampshire one, they decided that the state can not restrict an abortion for a woman in the middle of a medical emergency.  Are you saying Antonin Scalia is stupid?  Are you saying Justice Clarence Thomas is stupid?  They are, in this case,  "pro-choice" or "liberal" in that they weren't absolute "pro-life" a position that would have required them to say the state may restrict the abortion, stricly speaking prolife would be a position wanting all abortion in America illegal.\n\nMainstream America isn't for this at all, we want restrictions yes, but not illegal for all cases.\n\nAs to the position of partial birth abortion I opppose it because it puts the mothers life in danger, and if she wanted one, she should have gotten one earlier in the pregnancy.\n\nAs to the issue of death penalty. I oppose it for two reasons,  one the risk of killing someone who did not commit the crime.  We are all for the death penalty in a perfect system. We don't have a perfect system.  The second reason is it clogs up the courts and its years of appeals and money spent by the state to argue for this revenge.  If you put a man in jail for life,  is it not as good to society that the evil criminal is off the streets?  Why do you feel you need revenge so badly.\n\nSo the the next point of gay marriage.  I in fact oppose gay marriage, but am for civil union.  I contend that I as a man married to my wife, a woman, should just as easily have the right to get civil union with my brother, and thus entitle my brother to the health care benefits of my employer if I chose to.  I would like to ask why does religion have to be the standard. Some religions entitle multiple wifes.  Recently in Utah a man had 3 wives.  That is 2006 in Utah a man had three wives its in the news he did so his religion, a Christian denomination, married him.  So then there are Christian denominations on the east coast of America that have married same gender couples.\n\nThe state therefor, government, must not have marriage liscenses any more, and in fact, allow people, same gender or otherwise - to have civil union.\n\n\n\nThe other point of liberal is "high taxes."  While I am not a "fiscal liberal" I consider myself a "fiscal conservative" I question my government's current policies of lowering taxes, but not lowering spending.  So I would argue that the current spending is good, we need more spending. The cutting of medicare and student loans will harm society. So I am against making the Bush tax cuts permanent.  This means I am for "higher taxes", but the crisis of the debt spiraling out of control, is a grave risk, one that Chairman Greenspand said last August was going to be a problem. He said something to that effect before Congress, encouraging them to stop the "deficiet spending" or at least bring it down a lot.  Are you saying that Chairman Greenspan is liberal, and that he is stupid?\n\nSo according to you, and you can't spell the word why, so you aren't striking me as super intelligent,  that Scalia, and Thomas, and Greenspan, and Christian demoninations, are all liberal and stupid.\n\nI contend that the idea of "liberal" was
639488
I think that is a rather disgusting thought.... no amount of money could ever replace a human life.  Abortion is not birth control, it's MURDER! 18 days after conception the heart begins beating, most women don't even know they are pregnant at that stage of the game. Abortions are not done before 6 weeks and by then there are facial features, the arms and legs have budded, the nervous system is in tact, it is a growing living human with potential not potentially a human.
379708
I think all of that is hogwash. I'm an advocate for abortion if it's for the right reasons. Do you remember anything about being concieved, or do you remember anything about being a fetus, because I sure don't. It's "preventing" life, not killing it. And i'll take that in a second, rather than another crackbaby born into a dysfunctional family with a miserable life ahead of it.
859212
Abortion - Don't think I could do it unless my life was in danger, but I think it should be legal and I don't judge those who have them. Don't think they should happen after 12 weeks except in the case of medical emergency.\n\nStem cell research - no reason whatsoever to protest stem cell research if IV fertilization has been OK and still is. \n\nIraq War - with all the "threats" in the world, we went after the one that got away from his Daddy. Convenient, isn't it?\n\nGay marriage - sad that this is even an issue.\n\nWomen's rights - um, they should be the same as men's rights...\n\nThe Deep South of the US, I'm an atheist.
523650
That quote you have posted is just wrong in so many ways.  Why would any woman be so stupid as to degrade herself in saying men are not responsible for pregnancies and other parental issues?  Sex is not something that deserves punishment! It happens in nature, people were intended to do it, and there is nothing wrong with it.  NO ONE should be punished for acting on natural instinct.  I just hate it when people always act like it is so wrong--it's not! And as far as the pregnancy thing goes--people make mistakes.  Although you may be responsible and careful, it can happen.  It's just like driving a car: you may be a good driver, but it doesn't mean that you'll never crash.  Abortion is an upsetting thing, but it's just not practical to make it illegal.  Women can't always provide the support a baby will need, and I personally don't think it's up to men in the government to make decisions about abortion.  Men don't get pregnant, so why should they be able to decide? They have no basis for judgement.  As far as this Karen lady goes, why would she act to stop her own access to her rights? It just doesn't make sense to me.  Anyway, after that long rant, the answer to your question is NO.
372396
That's wrong. According to the Bible, in Genesis chapter 2, Adam "became" a soul when he was created. He wasn't GIVEN one. Abortion is clearly murder, whether people try all sorts of ways to justify it (which they can't).
35530
You can even take this one step further. Most of those same people who are for abortion are also for assisted suicide and euthenasia of terminally ill people, or people who are too old to care for themselves. Many people think that you have to have a certain quality of life in order to deserve to live. Unplanned babies, the sick, the old, and the dying fit into their ideas of those who don't or won't have a quality of life that's productive. Oh yeah, and that includes another group of people...those who are in a coma and are only hooked up to feeding tubes. They have their feeding tubes pulled out, leaving them to starve to death. Many live for several weeks before dying, with the family watching the whole proceedure, in the name of saving money, but claiming they are giving their "loved" one death with dignity. What's so dignified about starvation? They spout off grand speeches about how they can't bear to see them suffer so much. And that their quality of life doesn't exist anymore. Then, they'll turn around and picket in front of a jail, where a convicted killer is ready to get the needle, dying in peace, having just eaten the greatest meal they'd ever had. Go figure. Abortion is just as senseless, with hundreds of couples waiting for years to adopt a baby. I know a few gals who got abortions...not because they were raped...or because it was a health risk to her or the baby...but because it was inconvenient. They were in school. They didn't want their parents to find out (after all, we just know that their parents will KILL them if they find out, right?). It was just easy to think of their baby as a blob of material, with no identity. I've heard people say that the baby isn't really human until they're born. Really? What is that thing inside of a pregnant woman, a fish, a monkey, a figment of their imagination? Have they really seen the amazing pictures of a baby inside of the mom? Looks human to me. I still have the ultrasound of my daughter and she looks like a baby to me. I guess it all depends on what you believe in...whether you believe in defending the defenseless or supporting the evil. No one has ever explained sufficiently to me the up side of abortion. There is none. Everyone loses. What a huge waste of a human life. <*)))><
203750
Rewrite:\n\nArgument still stands for all to read.\n\n#1 The brain and heart don't start beating until way after the time for an abortion.  So technically, it's not a life yet.\n\n#2 60% of all children within the system never get adopted.  I'm sure if the number was much better a lot of people might consider it a real alternative.\n\nThey prolifers do it because it's an ideology thing.  They don't actually want to adopt the kids or help out the poor/underprivileged people.  It's much easier for them to jus preach about what they believe is right.  That way, on Sunday then can think back on all the times they've tried to spread the word of God - and not on how many times they've actually tried to live by it.\n\nYou show me a good person who gives himself honestly to his fellow man for the good of everyone but himself, and I'll show you someone who wouldn't call himself a religious person.
919642
I am constantly amazed at how those support abortion will try to turn the argument against those of us who find it appalling.  Someone who says the argument is "insulting" is striking out because they can't justify their position.  No one seems able to determine why is it that the pro-abortionist as so animate about their position.  Why is it so important to allow women to destroy life?
769644
So far, all I've heard is a lot of responses to a terrorist question, but everyone is responding to the word abortion. People hear abortion and get stuck on it, and get off track of the original issue. I'm with you...lisagirl, so far. Mr. Scholar, when people ask and respond here, they don't "talk" they type. Maybe you should change you name to uneducated.
1125002
you know i can't really answer your question. you put a new spin on abortion for me. Thanx.
820408
Us get a life? What on earth prompted you to even consider such an inane question in the first place.?