You can be personally opposed to abortion and fully support a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy

[TreasonousBastard]

19. Ahh... but there is that big BUT...

I am also against the death penalty, war, mistreatment of other humans and all that. It is, however a fine and moving line that we draw saying that abortion is not the same thing.

We get past this by saying a fetus is not a human, which seems rational. But we really aren't sure. A fetus is certainly a potential human, so where does that fit in with the schedule of rights we have evolved?

We are setting the agreed upon rights of a real human woman and her body against the presumed rights of a potential human-- there is no easy ethical answer. (Feel free to disagree)

One easy, but probably false, answer is that the fetus is a human-- Catholics go so far as to say a soul is created at conception. This is scientifically ridiculous, but it is a belief, so we have to deal with it somehow, and just denying it doesn't seem to work. We have to remember that as misguided as they may be, the "pro-life" types are passionate believers in their cause. (Yes, if only they were that passionate about living humans...)

And then there is the belief that a woman has absolute control over her own body. Largely true, but aside from pointing out the cases where none of us have complete control of our bodies, a fetus is not simply a polyp to be removed.

I could go on, but what's the point... Abortion has become a religious issue, and Americans are not supposed to incorporate religious doctrine into law. Worse is a bunch of male Senators whose experience with pregnancy is praying for their wives in another room declaring abortion sinful and therefore illegal.