Friday, August 29, 2008

The only choice argument, for the GOP VP candidate

Abortion happens, whether it's legal or not. Do we make it illegal and dangerous, even for victims of rape and incest, or the critically ill, who have the greatest moral imperative to abort? Or do we do everything we can to make unintended pregnancies rare? Period.

Update: I've heard a lot of conservative women on NPR saying how happy they are that Palin is so strongly "pro-life." I wrote this last night:

I don’t know the governor of Alaska, but I find her extreme position on abortion severely lacking in compassion for women who are raped, victims of incest, or who simply don’t want to risk their lives in an unintended pregnancy (esp. if they are already mothers). Both times I was pregnant I was keenly aware that my life could end, especially at my age (600 women in America die from childbirth). And in any case, women always seek abortions whether they are legal or not, so the question is, will we keep women who do it safe in this country; and do we try to make them rare? I’m not so dismissive of more moderate pro-life positions (setting some legal limits for those who are not in the situations I mentioned above), but not that one—and I wonder if she supports the use of contraception (sigh). I guess she’s a libertarian on other issues (just not for all women I guess!).

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