The Great Debate: "Should abortion be legal in the USA?"

Today is the second of a series of cross-blog debates with conservative blogger Mike Waters; who enjoys the challenge of a gentlemanly discussion. Go and read Mike's opinion over on his blog; and be sure to comment on what you read!

In the mean time, here's my two cents:

"Should abortion be legal in the USA?"

Choosing to support legal abortion as part of the ‘Great Debate’ is somewhat disingenuous of me – because don’t for a second think that I’m ‘pro’ abortion.

In fact, I’m pretty much on the same page as Mike Waters regarding the issue. As a parent, I looked at the ultrasound of my baby boy at eight weeks and there’s no way you can convincingly tell me that this tiny little person was a ‘bundle of cells’ that could be flushed away with no consideration. He was a person to me, a fact proven by the fact that he’s running about three years later.

So my philosophy is the same as Mike’s – as far as I’m concerned, abortion is essentially murder. You’re killing an infant before he or she ever has the chance to breath their first breath of air. It’s a terrible, indefensible sin – and it should end.

But this is where I split from Mike Waters on the issue – because as much as I agree that abortion is a terrible thing, I believe the pro-life movement have an unforgivably blinkered view on the problem – one are more focused on pursuing a political agenda that actually solving the issue.

Abortion, you see, isn’t the disease – it’s the symptom of the disease. The ‘disease’ is the fact that there are 1.3 million unwanted pregnancies in America every year; to women who are unable or unwilling to carry these children to term.

In the 21st century – when we have had the power to prevent unwanted pregnancies with 99% efficiency – this is an absolutely unforgivable state of affairs. What’s more, it reveals the hypocrisy of the pro-life movement. They’re so obsessed with preventing women from terminating their pregnancies they fail to understand that they’re dealing with the problem weeks or months too late.

Although, in all honesty, I have this same problem with the so-called ‘pro-choice’ movement: They’re equally blinkered about why abortion is wrong; fighting to keep it legal for all the wrong reasons. Some so-called feminists even boast of having had an abortion – as if it’s a badge of honor, or cements their membership of the ‘feminist’ club.

The fact is, though, that with pregnancy being preventable, a ‘pro-choice’ woman has already made her ‘choice’ when she falls pregnant. It’s all very well her fighting for the ‘choice’ to terminate her pregnancy; but I think it’s valid to criticize her the same way I criticize the pro-life movement – she’s demanding that choice weeks or months too late.

Ultimately, the truth is that both the pro-life movement and the pro-choice movement need to reassess their agenda; and realize that they should be both fighting for the same aim – the end to unwanted pregnancy in America.

Because that’s the only way abortion will ever end in this country. Currently, 1.3 million American women seek an abortion every year and if the pro-life movement thinks that simply making abortion illegal will solve that problem, they’re dwelling in cloud-cuckoo land.

And that’s why I support abortion being legal; for the time being. Because if women are going to seek the procedure regardless – as they undoubtedly will - I’d rather they get it done in a safe, regulated, clinical environment that one of the infamous abortion mills that cater to those seeking an illegal abortion.

Because those abortion mills – which leave women disfigured, sterile or dead, are the ones who’ll be in business if the pro-life movement ever get their agenda passed.

Conservatives will never end abortion by making it illegal. After all, the growth and sale of marijuana has been ‘illegal’ in America for the past eighty years; and three times more people smoke pot here than in Amsterdam.