Gregor, my brother, I leave you with a rec and with this:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/roe-v-wade-and-obama-v-mccain.php

And this:

This Thing

I'm alone, at first, in what they want to call a waiting room.
Well, at least I have a TV.
But it's so loud, and there's no remote and I can't turn it down.
All I really want is to think.

I want to think about this for the last time.
I want to be sure that it's something I lack.
I want to want this thing that's inside me.
I want to get up and leave and never come back.

Oh dear God, I want to get this over with.
Oh dear God, I want someone to talk with.

Another woman walks in, and sits beside me in this makeshift room.
Like me she is wearing nothing but sneakers and socks and a gown.
We don't speak at first.
We're too busy looking each other up and down.

And then she does this thing that makes me want to cry.
She says, "This your first time, honey? You don't look like you belong".
And of course she's so right.
But I wish somehow that I could tell her she's wrong.
This thing that has happened, it's so wrong.
To think it just happened one night.
So I tell her, and she's nodding her head.
She looks at me with sympathy.
She says, "41 and it's your first time.....my oh my, you poor thing."
Then she turns to the TV and says, "I can't hear it, is there a remote?"
She finds it and turns The Judge up louder, while my words get stuck in my throat.

I don't say anything.
I just think about this whole thing.
Then the nurse calls my name, and I'm gone.
Just like that, this thing is gone.

And here I am a year later, still trying to think that this thing was all wrong.
A year later, and I still hope that getting rid of this thing wasn't wrong.
A year later, and I know that I'll forever be singing this song.
Was I wrong? Was it wrong? Was I wrong?

And, finally, this: I don't believe in the death penalty...I hate having to kill a wasp or bee that enters my apartment....I let spiders live because I think they're good luck and their webs help me out in the entrapment of bees and wasps....I believe that a person has the right to decide about an awful lot of things besides the birth of their potential baby and the person they want to marry and the way they want to carry out their own death.

In short, to each their own. But, in each I hope is an inherent wanting to help another in need, i.e., empathy.

You, my brother, have empathy up the wazoo. So many of my friends here do. I hope it spreads like wildfire, to the point where it overwhelms ignorance, which, lately is in great supply.

Peace.

Gregor, you're doing a great service here. Between your post and LisB's I want to cry for the beauty and rightness of them.

I've known several women who have had abortions. I don't believe there is anybody anymore who doesn't know of someone who has had to come to that decision. It is never an easy choice, and I don't believe it is ever done without agonizing doubt.

I agree with Stilli, that we probably need to set limits based on viability. But if that comes about, then we need to create a climate where all of our children are protected and cared for. No hungry, abused or unloved children. We can't care so desperately about fetuses and then turn our backs on them when they're born.

I think the numbers of late-term abortions done for any reason is a myth. They're only done on the main as a last resort, either because there is no discernible quality of life for the infant, or to save the life of the mother.

This is an argument that isn't going to go away. Both sides are so deeply entrenched, I don't see a way to come to agreement. For that reason, and because I believe the disastrous political choices of the past decade or so were based too often on this very issue, I'm reluctantly but realistically leaning now toward turning the issue over to the states again, and leaving the Fed out of it.

This one issue stands in the way of reasonable legislation on so many other important issues. It is used as a wedge by the other side in order to get the votes they need for their own agendas. It is the one issue that gave the Religious Right such an astonishing foothold.

I firmly believe that George W. Bush would never have even gotten close to being president if abortion hadn't been at the forefront.

At the same time, I believe firmly and with all that I am that women should be able to make this choice without harm or prejudice.

This kind of dialogue is so important. Thank you for this. As you can see, I have no real answers, just thoughts.

Great post. I really believe that you nailed it clothing the fiery thought in beutiful words.