"We affirm that human life begins when a cell containing human chromosomes first has the ability to replicate and differentiate into individual tissues, as occurs at fertilisation. The genetic pattern of such a cell is uniquely human and determines its adult characteristics."
http://www.medicinewithmorality.org.au/ (I don't work for them; I just stumbled across them.)

"Abortion is a natural process. Whether it is spontaneous abortion, miscarriage or a result of surgical intervention."
Death, is also a natural process. Whether it is from natural causes, the result of murder, or through capital punishment/as a result of war, it still results in the end of a life.
That doesn't mean all these things are justified. Just because people die, doesn't mean I have the right to kill someone. Just because foetuses are miscarried, doesn't necessarily mean doctors have the right to actively kill them.

"She may be aborting a Hitler or a Lenin."
She may also be aborting an Einstein or a Beethoven.

It's interesting you mention declining crime rates. What has happened to the crime rates since? And what are your sources?

Look, I'm not saying every woman who falls pregnant should raise her child. I am saying that every woman who chooses to have sex and conceive should not kill the foetal life that happens to grow inside of her and at least bring it to full term. There are huge waiting lists for adoption, and lots of couples on or seeking IVF. Why not adopt these children out to the many loving mums and dads out there that desperately want a child?

netjunkie You write

'Look, I'm not saying every woman who falls pregnant should raise her child. I am saying that every woman who chooses to have sex and conceive should not kill the foetal life that happens to grow inside of her and at least bring it to full term. There are huge waiting lists for adoption, and lots of couples on or seeking IVF. Why not adopt these children out to the many loving mums and dads out there that desperately want a child?

What you forget is the pro death brigade are not interested in facts. They are more interested in defending their dogmas. They have changed the arguement from the poor 14 year old girl who is raped to a woman's right to choose and now use pseudo science to say the baby is not a child. Their is no science or morality in their arguement and so they keep changing the fact that abortion is the murder of the most vulnerable in society. That is why 80000 plus are murdered each year, They make Hitler and the Catholic church look tame!

"If and when everyone can agree on a set of rules for right behaviour then we can have a serious debate about whether to adopt them. Until then we are better off looking after ourselves and letting others look after themselves too."

And we'll let paedophiles, murderers, terrorists, and Gulag officials look after themselves also!

"I'm pro-choice, but like david f. I am concerned with the rights of doctors who don't wish to be involved with assisting in abortions."

It is paradoxical to be pro-choice but not pro-choice enough to allow a doctor to make his/her own choice.

"What you forget is the pro death brigade are not interested in facts. . . . That is why 80000 plus are murdered [through Australian abortions] each year, They make Hitler and the Catholic church look tame!"

Thank you for such a pointed example of what is happening in this sunburnt country.

"I can think of almost no other medical procedure in which a patient would not legally be required to have full informed consent. Why is abortion, an elective procedure with significant health risks, any different?"

You made excellent points about informed consent when the patient knows the effects on her and the implications of her abortive actions.

"If we accept the pro choice figure AT LEAST 1/3 women are coerced into abortion."

Talk about the paradox of pro-choice in abortion!

"It is about protecting the right of an adult woman to decide what happens with her own body. The sex of the fetus is irrelevant to that consideration."

It is also about protecting the right of the unborn child to continue with life. Otherwise your argument is discriminatory.

A lot depends on whether the foetus has a "soul" or whether it is like an animal, with life but not yet the full self understanding of a "born" human being.

I repeat we do not know this. I would always support an abortion at any stage when the life of a mother is threatened as the mother is clearly fully human whereas it is by no means clear that the foetus is. This is the common sense approach that Judaism for one has supported over the millenia and also supports abortion in the case of rape.

If the child can be born and the mother stay alive the case is not so clear cut. Some Churches takes a narrower approach and have been known to prefer both child and mother to die when one of them could be saved. An ironic stand given the attitudes of the Church toward human life during the Inquisition, the Crusades and the 30 Years War.

I think that if a Doctor takes an anti-abortion stand the Doctor is entitled to that position, but should not moralize and should be obliged to make the patient aware that other Doctors hold different views. In the case of an abortion being an emergency procedure to save the life of a mother any Doctor who lets the mother die because of religious or ethical preferences is guilty of homicide.

Why are you un-validating my rights?
Do I not have Life?
Do I not have feelings, thoughts, memories, relationships, goals, dreams, hopes, fears?
Do I not deserve a Choice?
Free will is Gods gift to us(who or whatever your god might be)
(S)he? gave us this gift so we could make mistakes, learn and grow and anyone who has learnt enough, and has learnt the truth, knows that choice is individual.
Who are YOU to JUDGE?
Who have you NOT harmed?
Who have you made wish to die in order to not know lifes pain?
Have you wished to die? if even for a second.

I have life, yes it is a great gift.

I will create life for god, for the right reasons depending on my world around me, and untill this world has that which is not war and lies and a constant paradement of distractions, I Will be Pro-Abortion.
Lest not give Choice to those who have not been given choice by god, named the Un-Born.
Lets give Love to those already breathing, living, loving, learning, hurting, morning.
I reach out to you because you are here you can hear and you can choose.
Continue to choose whats right for you, yet remember whats right for you isnt whats right for another.
Peace x

"Continue to choose whats right for you, yet remember whats right for you isnt whats right for another."

Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin & the Taliban also chose what was right for them and that wasn't right for me!