the one thing I don't like to fight about...sort of

People say that the two things you're not supposed to discuss are religion and politics. I wouldn't say I disagree exactly since I understand where the expression came from, but, when dealing with reasonable, not very easily angered people, they can both be fun subjects to delve into. Anyone who knows me even casually knows that I'm usually up for debating just about anything. There's one subject, however, that I've learned over the years to avoid arguing about at all cost and it's one that relates to both religion and politics: abortion.

I say "over the years" because I've definitely been in a few ill-advised abortion debates in the past. I never managed to convince anyone even slightly and it's not just because their beliefs were so firm. The problem is that the debate all comes down to one question, and it's a question that no one really has an answer to. The whole issue hinges on when exactly life begins.

If you must know, I'm pro life. I don't bomb clinics or stand in picket lines and I'm very sympathetic for people who end up in situations where they feel like an abortion is their only option. But I would like to see abortion outlawed at some point in the future. None of that really matters though, because it's only my opinion, guesswork at best.

So many pro choice people claim that abortion has to remain legal because it's a women's rights issue. It's really not though. Yes, a woman should have a right to control her own body, but if a fetus is alive then the right of that living human to keep living supercedes the rights of its mother in the same way that parents don't have the right to kill their children at any other age. On the other hand, if a fetus is not a living creature, but simply a collection of cells, then abortion is no different than having a mole removed. On the pro life side of things, so many people try to make it a religious issue. The Bible doesn't specifically talk about abortion, though, or state at what exact point life begins. People try to say abortion is playing God or messing with his plan, but we do that so often in a million other ways. Even scientists seem to have different opinions on the matter. With so many conflicting ways to define "life," how could we ever come to a universal agreement on when it starts?

So I somewhat arbitrarily picked a time. I think life begins somewhere after conception but well before birth, which makes me pro life. Can I prove it? Not completely. I could come up with a good argument I'm sure, but I imagine, with a bit of effort, you or anyone else could come up with a rather compelling argument for your arbitrary time too. And that's okay. Pick your side. Stand firm. Argue with someone if you want. Just don't tell me that your decision is about women's empowerment or your relationship to the Creator or anything other than your gut feeling about what's right.