An Invitation to a Dialogue on Abortion

My good friend, Jeromy, quotes Obama and Hillary on abortion from their appearance at the religious "Compassion Forum" recently. His response is a beautiful picture of crap. Literally.

Anyway, what I would like to do is extend an invitation to Jeromy to a dialogue (or debate or whatever) between our blogs on what government policy toward abortion should be or at least how anti-abortionists should approach the issue. I think that Jeromy and I both agree on abortion itself in that we both find it abhorrent. I also think that we would both agree that in a perfect world, it would not happen. Where I believe Jeromy and I may differ is how best to get closer to this ideal.

I have written about the issue before (here and here chiefly), but I will reiterate and summarize here.

1) Pushing to overturn Roe vs. Wade is not helpful. It polarizes people and allows pro-abortionists to frame the debate as individual rights vs. big government taking away your rights. We Americans are big on our freedoms and rightly so, of course, but it is hard to argue about even something as critical as taking a life when your opponent says you want to take away someone's rights.

2) What is more likely to work at this point is limiting abortions - late-term abortions, partial-birth abortions, etc. More people can get behind laws like this right now than for complete bans on abortion. Until we have a massive culture shift in where a majority of the population stands against all abortions, we need to take baby steps getting there.

3) Part of #2, really, but bears emphasis...parents of children under 18 should be informed if their child is wanting an abortion. Their minors for cryin' out loud! No doubt they are worried about how Mommy and Daddy are going to react. They damn well should be worried 'cause they screwed up. They need to accept the consequences.

4) Abstinence only education is a joke and should be abolished. It doesn't matter whether or not one believes that people should wait until they are married before they fool around. The fact of the matter is that people including teens and young adults have sex. We are all human beings and have human urges and desires. Even the best of us fall short. We can teach our children that it is best to wait until they are married, but, if they don't they need to use protection. The fewer people getting accidentally pregnant, the fewer chances of having abortions there are and that is something we can all support.

So, what do you think, Jeromy? Agree? Think my arguments are a pile o' poo?