Reply #37: I agree with you on the other issues,

[karynnj]

What I was saying was that IF you accept that abortion is murder , the issue becomes black and white and the comparison to the holocaust follows. The fact that abortion at some times for some reasons is legal and the fact that it is a medical procedure then become irrelevant for those people. My point is that for some people who are pro-life this is equivalent and many people believing that are not off their rocker.

Abortion is not just a "legal medical procedure" - and you will never get any viable candidate to say that. It does end potential life. It has to be seen as an issue where there are conflicting rights and for most people huge areas of gray. Few, it any, would accept killing a baby as it is being born or when it is viable outside the womb - nor is that legal. On the other end, a very pro-life friend of mine admits that she accepts birth control, the morning after pill and any other very early interventions - but her values, which are every bit as real as any I hold, do not let her go further. There is a huge amount of space between these extremes.

The other issue is that in assessing the impact of legalizing abortion, you need to consider there were many illegal abortions when it was not legal- though those numbers are not available, because it was illegal. Yet, all of us of a certain age, know people personally who had abortions. In fact, in that time period, it was knowing people, knowing their reasons and why they made their decisions that led many of us to be pro-choice. It was their lives and their bodies - and it had to be their choice. It seems likely that a very high percent of people who have abortions now would have them if it were illegal. They did then - and now it would likely be easier - as travel, information and different methods exist. Like then, the main thing you give up is the health and safety of the mothers - which is unacceptable.