This post has a contemporary hook which is not just about abortion but about people filling leadership and teaching positions in Christian churches. I think it deserves a run on that basis.

Approving a post on abortion once a month doesn't seem to me to be disproportionate. And I have no control over posters who like to talk about abortion as long as they are not off-topic. The fact that they exist shouldn't be a reason for stopping other people discussing the same issue.

The price you pay for free speech, which is what this site is about, is that you have to support the right of people to say things which you not only disagree with, but find distasteful. As long as what they say stays on the right side of the law, I'm prepared to approve posts.

No-one is forced to contribute to or read a thread with which they disagree.

Having said that, I think we could have more varied threads, and the solution to that is in all of our hands.

I'm with CJ and Fractelle on this one. These threads never seem to achieve much. Anyone posting a considered view on the reasons why women should have access to safe abortion will be pounced on by the ranters who can't move beyond simplistic condemnation. There's never a meeting of minds and rarely much in the way of real discussion.

This particular thread is just made for Runner. Where is he? Abortion and saintliness, his two favourite topics rolled into one and he's not even taking a nibble. Come in, Runner! Don't let us down.

Having said all that, I will against my better judgement ask KMB a simple question. How on earth could we accommodate all those babies your anti-abortion website claims are being killed as we speak? Tell me what do you think the population would be? How many trillions of people would there be on the planet? Do you think for a moment you'd be enjoying the lifestyle you do now?

No-one likes abortion. Any woman who goes down that path is haunted by her decision to a greater or lesser degree for the rest of her life. The last thing these women need is the pointing finger from people who've usually never had to confront these life and death decisions for themselves.

Sorry, CJ and Fractelle, I know I've waved the red flag. If nothing else, you can at least tell me you told me so. :)

CJ, Fractelle,

I agree that a thread about abortion on this forum is about as interesting as watching paint dry. While a specific thread dedicated to this purpose may not happen too often it permeates other threads so often that one could almost write the posts for some contributors as we've all heard their views so many times.

Of course Graham is right in what he says too and no-one is taken by the scruff and forced to contribute.

What I think would be really interesting, given the hyperbole on this subject though, is if one could possibly get a thread going limited only to women. Of childbearing age.

There seems to be more men than women who get shrill about this topic and, given that the majority of the most emphatic posters seem to be people of "a certain age", I wonder if we would get different points of view if we did this? After all, when we look at the amount of people who are registered but who don't post, its possible there is a completely different demographic out there.

Unfotunately, we'll never know as the double-edged sword of Freedom of Speech ensures that its impossible to so limit respondants. Remember what has happened in the past when certain topic concerning only women and addressed only to women, and about women's experiences have been posted?

Bronwyn I hear you and understand. In fact I'm about to take a bite on the "hook".

Which is that women obtaining positions of leadership AND being pro-abortion is something contemporary and worthy of debate.

I suppose there were similar debates in times past whether women could walk and chew gum.

That women have been seeking equality of opportunity and control over their fertility is as old as when women first discovered munching a particular herb produced convulsions which resulted in miscarriage. As for the struggle for equality, well I posit this occurred the first time a woman was raped.

But, hey, sometimes some of us are a little slow and need time to catch up. With notable exceptions of course.

Hey Romany, snap.

I have no doubt this debate will end up with much discussion about whether Hitler was a Christian, that drug addicts are caused by single mums and that women are murderers for wanting to decide when and if to have children. There, I've save some posters a lot of trouble, maybe the rest of us could actually have a discussion about the topic instead of the same old rant.

Abordt! Abordt! Abordt!

The phlaigme proximity alarm computer-generated voice, speaking strijdently in Norsk, jolted Forrest fully awake. Instinctively Forrest hauled back on the stick and simultaneously rammed the throttles through to the gate in order to gain the advantage of altitude as quickly as possible. This could rapidly become a dogfight! Or a catfight. Forrest could not affjiord to become involved in either, piloting the gigantic Hotairbus A-390 at such a low altitude as he had been to give the passenger opinionators the best views of the fjiord landscape.

As the Hotairbus fought for height Forrest observed through the mist a road winding across the steep mountainous landscape, far too close for comfort. He was still below the surrounding peaks as he flew along the fjiord. Briefly, as the scenery fled past, Forrest glimpsed an old stone bridge, its cavernous arches concealing who knows what in the darkness beneath. Then three billygoats. Just as suddenly they were all gone again.

A village came into view. A quick glance at the NavMan, then the chart, identified it.

Trolldhaugen!

The view suddenly went pale grey everywhere. They were flying in cloud. Just as suddenly the Hotairbus A-390 burst out of the cloud into brilliant sunshine, a sea of cloud stretching to the horizon in all directions, but not a mountain peak in sight to hit. Forrest eased the throttles, and the Hotairbus levelled out.

Light dawned on Forrest as to the origins of Linux. The three billygoats had been the three billygoats Groff. Linux had had its origins in Norway, not Finland! That big building Forrest had seen in the village was the Troll Tech!

By all the KMBs of Ultima Thule! OLO userID jpw2040 had been right, here: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=2573#57732 . If you doubt this judgement, assess the response here: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=2533 . "Jump down, turnaround, pick a bale of cotton. Jump down turnaround, pick a bale a day. Jump ....."

Norway hohsjey was Forrest going to do any egriegious posting on this topic!