Abortion: Three Day Grace Period

[ar.]

I hate to sort of stumble in with an opinion at the last second, but I wanted to say how insightful I found this thread to be. I'm pro-choice myself, but I find the "respect for life" idea very interesting. I have always tried to abide my life by the idea that since I have no power to make life myself, that is, to bring into being something which isn't part of my life, from the ether, as it were, that I should equally have no power to take such a life away.

I do however think that there is a fundamental difference in an infant 3 days before birth and 3 days after, which allows the law to draw a distinction -- not to say that I agree that such a distinction should be made, or that it is right and correct to terminate the foetus based on such a distinction, but only that there IS one. There IS a difference, and it is subtle, but it is still important.

It sort of draws on the idea that before birth, the foetus is inside the mother's body, whereas afterwards, it is outside of her body, but there is one point that seems to have been forgotten -- the foetus is actually attached to his mother, like an organ in her body. When the baby is born, it no longer has such an attachment.

Ultimately, I don't think you will find very many people who believe that it's morally okay to crush a baby's skull in the birth canal, but there are lines that can be drawn. At the point where a woman would kill more cells washing her face than she would having an abortion, can you see a difference between then, and three days before birth? Before a baby is scientifically termed a "foetus", when it is still an "embryo", are there not marked differences?

Spiritually, life is an ebb and flow, and I don't really see how you could make an argument that certain people have purposes that can be and are fulfilled prior to their exodus from the womb. After all, nobody knows the plan. I think it would be far more respectful to the higher power that created us if we followed our natural intuitions and feelings. This is nature that we have been given, not learned, and the true respect for spirituality would be to follow where it leads.

That's just imho.