oc,

Let me start by saying I am not a religious person, and I consider myself to some degree pro-choice. That aside, your arguments are misleading and not logically convincing. Your analogies to the death penalty and pre-emptive military action are completely flawed. I have never known a fetus to commit a crime, much less receive a jury by his peers. Nor have I ever known a fetus accused of threatening our national security. As a practical matter, if the human race is so overpopulated, (to use your argument) why don’t we start by killing those who contribute least to society, rather than those who have the potential to do so much more. These arguments are nonsense and completely sidestep the real question.

The central issue in the abortion debate is not whether or not a woman has the right to choose, it’s whether and when an unborn child in this country attains the unalienable rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Personally, I feel no more loss at the killing of a zygote then I do the precious brain cells I waste away with every sip of scotch. At the other end, I believe, as do most people in this country, that terminating a healthy, nine-month pregnancy is an act of murder. Somewhere for me there exists a dividing line (or more honestly, two lines enclosing an area of gray).

When does an embryo become human? This debate is not predicated on “sectarian religious arguments”. Your assertion that the “glaring inconsistency in the religious argument is that many of the same groups that oppose abortion also oppose family planning” is also false, given that both are completely consistent with the religious beliefs of these groups.

While we are not bound in this country by the religious beliefs of others, we are bound by the laws we have chosen to put into place. “Demanding that the balance of society, that believes otherwise, should be subject to your particular beliefs” is hardly a tenet of 12th century religious thought; it is a basic principle of civilization. If you don’t like it, either you change the culture, or you live in Antarctica, your choice.

Bottom line. This is not a religious issue, nor is it a woman’s issue, this is a societal issue and one that is obviously in need of additional debate.