Runner” One has to be morally bankrupted not to see that killing the unborn is terribly wrong. “

And one has to be intellectually inept not to see that it is, clearly, a woman’s choice how her body will be used.

As for “Animals have more rights on this planet than unborn babies.”

An unborn baby should not have any right which detracts from or is to the detriment of the rights of the first inhabitant of the body on which it relies for all sustenance and resource (the Woman).

That a woman falls pregnant, due to any reason, is immaterial to her right to exercise all discretion over how her body will continue to be used.

God forbid we ever return to the days when the condition of pregnancy is enforced by decree of the state and people are no longer hold sovereignty over their own bodies.

As a volunteer counsellor I have listened to hundreds of women in varying degrees of post-abortion distress. Their grief and guilt - which has often profoundly disabled them and wrecked their relationships - is not eased one bit by the ideologies which maintain abortion is some kind of liberation. Rather, its easy availability and its pretence of being a "health" service has given the partner, families and friends of the pregnant woman the excuse of absolving themselves of any responsibility and support towards her and her unborn child. But rather than try and appeal to people who are really uninterested in learning the truth about abortion and its effects, I would just like to say to any woman suffering after her abortion and who may be reading these postings, there is help for you - and it is non-judgemental and compassionate:
http://www.projectrachel.org.au/
The post-aborted women I have listened to never blame religion for their abortions. They blame themselves, their partners who have abandoned or bullied them into abortion and most of all, they blame themselves. Many went off to get abortions without a second thought and are bewildered by the force of its negative impact upon them.
Among the many horrendous risks of abortion listed by Planned Parenthood of Australia's informed consent form, are "depression, suicide". Unfortunately, women presenting for abotion don't seem to read these consent forms, or if they do, they don't believe it can happen to them.

Maryse Usher I would contend that when a relationship decides its not stable enough to bring a baby into the world then the abortion follows. The abortion doesn't wreck the relationship, the abortion signals that the relationship is over and the relationship finishes shortly afterward.

Maryse Usher, “Among the many horrendous risks of abortion listed by Planned Parenthood of Australia's informed consent form, are "depression, suicide". Unfortunately, women presenting for abotion don't seem to read these consent forms, or if they do, they don't believe it can happen to them. “

We are all responsible for the decisions which we make, be they ones we have been bullied into or not.

I would think the outcome of a unwanted pregnancy, enforced to a natural conclusion, upon a woman against her will by either friends, family, religious counsel or the state, is the ultimate in abuse. It is far more likely to be the source of depression and suicide than the outcome of actions which come from peoples own choices.

I guess no one can protect others from coming to terms with accepting responsibility for their own actions.

When any religious zealot really knows what is best for any individual, more than the individual themselves, then we will all be living in eternal bliss and flying around with wings

Col Rouge, you really display a remarkable ignorance, not just of what the abortion issue is all about, but also of the society you live in. We are all governed by laws whose primary purpose and effect is to restrict and control the way we behave in our everyday lives, and few people have any problem with that. Those laws are made by other human beings, and they have nothing to guide them in deciding what is a just law, except their perception of what is right or wrong. Why should baby killing be exempt? And why should the lawmaking process be placed in the hands of atheists, and Christians excluded simply because they have an identifiable set of moral values? The law which protects a newborn child, for example, does not, to paraphrase your comments, "enforce parenthood on a woman against her will, to a natural conclusion". It simply prevents her from murdering her child, whatever her personal problems or desires may be. There is no reason why the same legal protection should not apply to the same child before birth. The burden imposed on the woman is no different either way, and it is the same human destiny which is being protected. That is a totally rational view, and has nothing to do with religion, except for the fact that people with religious beliefs are more likely to understand the difference between right and wrong. But many people of no religious beliefs are able to recognise the barbarity of tearing small human beings apart, and to see through the pitifully feeble arguments dredged up in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. The verbal garbage you churn out contributes nothing to what should be an intelligent debate. It is worth commenting that you are only able to do so because the pregnancy you "enforced" on your mother "until its natural conclusion" was not discarded with the contempt you hold for tomorrow's unborn bloggers.

Peter D

The problem that religious zealots have is that they believe humans are the superior species - God's chosen race!

That's no doubt a major reason why humans are stuffing up the planet and eradicating other species to make way for their indecent, irresponsible population explosions.

I advise Peter D, there are many of us who do not accept we are superior - we are simply one species of thousands, therefore we endeavour to reduce our human footprint on Planet Earth.

Since your "God" chose to allow many female human species to reach puberty by the age of 10, thereby making her fertile, perhaps you may explain why your "God" failed to endow her with the appropriate emotional maturity and the essential funding to competently raise a child?

You may also explain why many religious zealots find 10 year old children attractive?

Hypothetically, would you insist your pregnant 10 year old daughter becomes a Mother? And if so, would you insist she raises her baby or simply abandon it by placing it for adoption?