I guess if I wanted I could be a dick and claim that I have more right to an opinion on right-to-life/right-to-choose/abortion than 90%+ of this thread.

Trust me, when someone tells you you’re pregnant, you realize you have another life inside of you and know your life will be forever changed no matter what choice you make.

This is New Age bullshit I don't buy into, and that's coming from a person who's had another life inside of her and made a choice about it.

I'm tired of plots where the character who's had the abortion just simply can't get over her abortion. Some part of her life is all screwy and she has to repent, somehow, with massive guilt and a screwy life (caused or not caused in part by her guilt) because she's Kilt A Baby. (Our firm's NEWEST DIY kit, "Quilt A Baby," is coming out next month! Keep your eyes peeled for this sew-n-stuff entertainment!)

On the other hand, in a plot, if you have a happy, adjusted character who's had an abortion, there's no point to the "had an abortion" part. Chekhov's gun, tightness of the narrative, only mention things that are relevant. IE: Well adjusted character? Morbid backstory that's been resolved, not relevant. Distracts. Takes up word count.

So I understand why the general trope exists & occurs. Still sucks, though. Makes people think there's only one or two routes away from an abortion. Makes people feel like if you have an abortion, you also have to be hung up about it for the rest of your life.

Don't get me wrong. An abortion is a big deal and not a decision to be taken lightly. But it's not a decision that has to screw you up for life.

I think a woman deserves the right to choose. If the fetus/egg/zygote isn't viable I don't believe its potential life should be taken into consideration as a reason to have the child. The quality of its potential life? Yes. What you as a potential part can give (or can't give) this potential child? Yes. Just simply the fact that in a few months it can turn into a child? No.

Sometimes what gets lost in this discussion is how much right a potential father should have to a zygote/embryo/fetus/I really don't care. It's the woman's body and I don't think a woman should be forced to experience something so physically stressful and demanding without being willing. That is, I don't think a man should be able to claim that because he impregnated a woman and half of that potential child is his, she has to carry it to term if he wants it. Do some fuckin' science-magic and take the egg and put it in someone else or something for chrissakes. But if a woman was willing to carry a baby but didn't want to raise it, and a man was, well that would be copacetic for me.

I agree that when a fetus is closer to term things become squishier morally even as they become less squishy in the womb. I don't know as it's possible to lay down a unilateral decision on this one. I'm against the wanton carrying-then-destruction of a would-be child, as in "I'll just make up my mind later," or "The father and I had a fight at the last minute and as an emotional reaction I am 'deciding' without thought that I don't want this child." I find it hard to believe, but not impossible, that the reasons for having a late-term abortion are not more complex. And perhaps incomprehensible to me. So the jury is out but loosely in favor of abortion in general including late term; of course it is always possible to find horrific examples to break my heart, there are exceptions to all rules and proposed rules.

As for capital punishment, I'm in general against it, although I like to point out to anti-abortion pro-capital-punishment opinion-holders that there is a perceived conflict between those two points of view.

We have too shitty of a justice system for anyone to sleep well in regards to capital punishment the way it is carried out in this country. In addition, the medical dilemma it presents for doctors is extremely problematic and prevents us from ensuring things such as painfree victim death. For those that wish pain upon those who receive capital punishment I say that you are not looking for punishment, you are looking for revenge, and revenge is not the business of a justice system.

I think we should rehabilitate our prisoners when, if at all, ever, possible.

For those who cannot or will not be rehabilitated, some sort of prison can be achieved, I'm sure.