Alan the real difference is that I accept the laws of nature and
you don't, but take a religious worldview.

Fact is that most women could create about 400 of those human organisms in their lifetimes and not all can survive, thats the
reality. Having a child is more about just creating it. Its about
providing resources for it for 20 years etc, its a huge responsibility. So it makes perfect sense for women to have
children when they want them and can provide for them.

The old religious notion of don't have sex if you don't want kids
is utter balderdash. Sex is enjoyable, fun and natural. Are you saying that poor people, who clearly don't have the resources to raise unlimited kids, should not have sex? Thats the Catholic view, which is plainly ridiculous, as not even their own priests can keep their pants on.

Yes it should not be a political decision, nor should capital punishment, euthanasia etc etc. Too much room for sly politicians to use such controversial issues to their own advantage, thus becoming a political decision rather than a moral one.

As for abortion, if women want to have freedom of choice over their reproductive arrangements, so be it. But if that's the case then they need to accept and apply the same control over their sexual proclivities... cases of sexual assault being the only possible exception.

I have known only two women who have had abortions and they have never gotten over the trauma of having done it. The methods involved in abortions are (to me) nothing short of horrifying and I urge all woman not to have one.

I know I am but a man but this is just my opinion.

Dear Yabby,

You sound like a like minded spirit. That is a person who has personally experienced the joys of a Catholic Childhood that explains so clearly why we feel about our freedoms as adults being curtailed on the basis of a religious belief. A belief system which at every level defies honour, integrity, leadership by example.

I believe very religious people are actually incapable of a rational debate because the brain washing that is attempted at a very early age does not allow for "thinking for one's self". It is not encouraged to put logic and common sense into an argument by virtue of the fact, they live on faith alone. Faith is a "gift" that I don't have. I can't manufacture it - it is lost forever because I actually starting thinking for myself. I don't have a need to tell everyone else that they're wrong because for some else, it may be right. But many religious faiths believe they are the one true thing missing from everyone else's life.

On a blog site choicesplease.com.au I have told why I personally agree with abortion precisely because I am the other side of the story, of a baby born unwanted and unloved because my mother could not abort me. Of the three children my mother had, she farmed all of us out to various relatives throughout our childhood. At the age of 10 I was the unlucky one to be given into the care of the Good Shepherd Nuns, and the rest is history. My blog article is named "the other face of abortion" for very good reason.

The anti abortionists walk away feeling very proud and smug with their ability to promote anti choice, but at the end of the day, no one is thinking of the child's life ongoing. Lest of all those good Christian folk who can't begin to understand that not everyone lives in a cocoon of "happy families".

Mary Walsh
www.yourchoiceindying.com

Mary Walsh,

As a (non-Catholic) Christian I can truly sympathise with your ordeal.

However life is what you decide to do with the hand you have been dealt.

Yes you cannot manufacture “faith” but you can ask for it.

You can choose to resign from your sorrows and make a 180 degree turn and find true freedom, relief, and hope in Christ (instead of finding comfort in hate).

To every “sad” story there must be a thousand happy ones.

You are alive – use this precious gift for the sake of the millions who never made it to where you are.

You assume, Coach that I would find something worthwhile in having "faith" in a system of religion. Therein lies the differences between us. I am so very thankful that I don't have "faith" in a Christian God because nothing that I've personally experienced would encourage me to want to go down that path.

As a small child, I had no choice....as a young woman I started to use the reasoning that had been stifled for so long under a very brutal regime of enforced religious beliefs. By all means if religion works for you, use it, but for myself I walk without the aid of emotional sticks, or fear of reprisals for stepping outside the square.

I am not an unhappy person by anyone's standards except that of a good Christian. I am pleased that I did not use my illness to try and bargain my wellness on the basis of some promise to an unknown God. My strength came from my own determination and my very loving supportive family. For those who prayed for me, I was grateful, in the strength that prayer gave to those, worried on my behalf, but I personally did not feel it made the difference. My doctors did it for me, not God. My faith was in the doctors and yes I am grateful to them for giving me a worthwhile life. My faith is in science.

Mary Walsh
www.yourchoiceindying.com