Francis, in most countries of the Western world, abortion is available without question, up to the end of the first tremester.
Fair enough. Beyond that women need a good reason, like the health
of the mother etc. A line in the sand needs to be drawn somewhere,
based on philosophical and scientific reasons, the end of the first
tremester is not a bad one.

The Catholic dogma on abortion is hardly worth the paper that its written on, for it goes back to the holy sperms of Onan etc.
If you want to argue that point, I would be happy to :)

At the end of the day, most women can produce about 400 little organisms in their lifetimes, each of which could be a cute baby.
Reality prevails, Darwin was right, you can't keep them all.

So IMHO women should have the free choice to decide which of those
1-3 organisms they want to keep, nurture and provide resources for,
for the next 20 years. Thats pretty complex, but as it requires huge input and resources. Besides its the woman's uterus, nobody elses, she should have that final decision.

If the Catholic Church is so concerned with babies, perhaps they should sell their billions of $ of assets and pomp in Rome and start feeding the millions of starving babies. Rhetoric from a few old men in Rome is not going to feed them.

Yabby,

I can't believe you are dumping on the Catholic Church. It is so unlike you. I really wish that nun hadn't spanked you. It has resulted in you spending the rest of your life being bitter. I feel sorry for you.

Well put together Kate. You must ignore Francis, she is on another ideology altogether.
I have often wondered, as a man, where Francis presumes to have the right to contribute to your appreciation of your health, self, and well being when you find yourself pregnant, intentionally or otherwise.
As you so succinctly put it, while a termination is not your first choice in many circumstances, sometimes it is what you need right now to enable the sane continuation of your life to a reasonable future.
And, to add another perspective, the positions taken on this issue are nearly always ideological. There will hardly ever be any convincing of one side by the other. While people do change sides in the face of convincing argument, it hardly ever happens in ideological arguments.

Inner-Sydney based transsexual,

I do hope this drug business is in the past. Being cast aside by your parents not only happens to people like yourself. Surely there are support groups you can contact. If you are still taking drugs and living a risky night life you know it can only end in disaster.

Back to business. Abortion is legal as far as I know and that will never change. There are more people in favour of abortions than not so why debate it?

Francis, who gave you the right to be so judgemental and harsh towards women who have elected to terminate their pregnancies? Perhaps you should consider apologising for such a bitter display, which is nothing short of psychological abuse towards such women.

Take care Scout, may your future be bright.

Excuse the unscientific language. When a woman is pregnant the foetus grows like a parasite, the hormones released can trigger unintended growths like ganglions, tumours and cancers.
If a pregnancy is not to go to term the sooner it is ended, the better it is for the mother's health.
Our standard of health care is such that surgical abortion is less of a health risk to the mother than a full term pregnancy and RU486 because it can be administered early has even less risk.
If you want to increase child production then I suggest that you should think about building a child friendly society with limits on hours of work, affordable and accessible child care, wages that permit the average household to survive on one wage, affordable housing near places of work, health cover for all children, decent education systems.