[clue-talk] abolish abortion in america

[David Rudder]

David L. Willson wrote:
> It's time for you to defend your position or
> abandon it. 
> Answer the 5 or 6 questions.  Describe a distinction between abortion and
> murder in real, practicable terms.  Why is abortion NOT the wholesale
violation of the
> human rights that I say it is?
>

I'm pro-choice.  My religion, Judaism, says that life begins at first
breath.  Abortion is still legal in my country.  My views jibe with the
ruling law in both religion and state.  I don't feel the need to justify
them to anyone.

It's been 35 years since Roe v. Wade.  The Republicans recently had
control of all 3 branches of the government for years, with no change.
If they'd put in half the effort into banning abortion as they did
getting us into Iraq, Roe v Wade would have been toast.

Simply banning abortion won't work.  We've been through this, and the
toll in life of grown women was horrendous.  You feel very strongly
about the loss of infant life.  The pro-choice community feels very
strongly about the loss of adult life.  You can argue about which is
worse or which is deserved, but *you'll never convince the other side to
accept the deaths of their friends*.

We keep on talking about it, though.  Since there's no rational way of
winning the argument, the tactics of the right has become nasty.
Without some concrete way of fixing the problem, the only "discussion"
is one where the left is compared to murderers and slave-masters.

I said it well in the email that I quoted earlier:

"Look, no one wants to kill babies.  The abortion debate (not the
question, the debate) has gotten out of hand and is no longer about
abortion.  It's about cheap theater.  It's about mobilizing your base."

David, I understand you're heart-felt about this.  I'm not, but the
people you need to convince are.  What I'm asking you to do is to come
up with some way of satisfying yourself without stomping all over the
other half of the population.  Come up with a way to get to 0 abortions.
 Promote an action, not a complaint.  Find a solution, not just a goal.

Or sit down.

-Dave Rudder