Foxy,

if you find it is "the most difficult decision you ever have to make", you obviously have not given it enough thought, because such a decision will usually be made for you because of your particular circumstance.
I don't think there is too much leeway to be in a position to make a decision.
Some examples have already been cited;
Incest.
Rape.
Are just two that do not require thought or decisions.
What I think you mean is, the need for YOU, (the pregnant woman) to come to terms with the decision.
There are too many variables to arrive at a definitive answer.
The hardest decision of all, in my opinion, is when the mother is either terminally ill or has suffered some form of life threatening incident, (physical trauma) and there is no chance of survival, then the hard decision is saving the baby over the mother.
It's really not a decision anyone has to, or can make, it's a given.

ISSY,

if you allow IT to go full term and most of all allow it to be born, breathing or not, it's too late.
IT is now born and the fact that you do not allow, or assist IT to breathe, is now a matter of law.
You might get charged with manslaughter or murder.
If you are a medical professional, you are duty bound to proceed with the proto-col of birthing and doing everything in your power and at your disposal to ensure that IT get's every chance at life, and the first step and your first responsibility is to "kick-start" IT, into life, and ensuring it starts breathing, usually confirmed by the loud shrieks and crying of the now, Human Being, baby, oh and the mother.

Many women feel that a decision about abortion should
be a strictly personal one, and they deeply resent other
people insisting that they should bear a child they do not
want to have.

But there too there are ambiguities. Half the genes in
the fetus were contributed by the father, and
although the woman must bear the child, society may make the
father responsible for the child's support for nearly
two decades thereafter. If the father waives his
responsibilities - for example, by deserting the mother -
then of course he has no further rights in the matter.

But if he accepts his responsibilities and wants the child
born what are his rights in relation to the mother's right
to control her body.

And for those who believe that the fetus is human, there is
a third party present, the mother is not only controlling her
own body, but somebody else's potential body and life.

There are so many issues involved here that can be
discussed. However, I shall leave it here for now.

Makes one wonder how they ever managed pregnancies & births years ago without all that complexity they focus on now what is essentially a natural phenomenon !

Ah well they say there were 80,000 abortions a year,
That is 80,000 Australians we do not have and we could have cut 80.000
from our immigration intake.
What a waste !

An unwanted pregnancy presents a woman with two awful alternatives either to abort her child or carry a child to term without a father and most likely face ecomomic hardship and loneliness.

The two glib comments that should be avoided are:
1- That a pregnancy is an inconvenience and that a child can be put up for adoption, as this almost never happens, and
2- That an early foetus is only a clump of cells and is not a "human", as this discounts the emotional effect on the mother.

The whole debate about abortion is full of landmines and emotion, however, it boils down to the conflict between the rights of the unborn child over the rights of the woman over the control of her body and her life. My view is that one can no more force a man to marry a pregnant woman than force her to carry a child.

As for sex selection, legislation against this is futile as one is dependent on the woman revealing this.

ALTRAV,

"if you allow IT to go full term and most of all allow it to be born, breathing or not, it's too late"

You're the one who said it was not a human till it breathes.

I merely wondered if you thought that it was OK to kill it in the small window of opportunity that you'd have before the first breath.