This is an issue where decent people disagree and have what seem to them good reasons for the position they hold.

Shouting at each other and throwing prejudiced stereotypes at each other - what's the point of that? All it does it reinforce the feelings of the people on the other side that their opponents are a load of prejuduced loudmouths. And of course it means most people turn away because who with any sense wants to get stuck into that kind of ugly brawl?

I disagree with a lot of people on this, including especially many people with whom I agree on a lot of other things. I'm not going to pretend that the reasons they think something different from me are other than the are, so that it entitles me to hate them.

For me, I see a fetus as an unborn child, and for me when people talk about it being very small or very undeveloped, that is about as relevant as it would be to suggest that a newborn child has fewer rights than a grown adult, because she or he hasn't reached the same level of development. And since for me "pro-life" means that it is always wrong to kill another human being, even one guilty of terrible things, killing an unborn child can never be right.

And I'd far sooner live in a world where everyone else agreed that unborn children have a right to live and that mothers should be provided with all the help the need, especially where there are problems which might make them see ending that life as a solution.

But we don't live in that world. We live in a world where many/most people do not think that a fetus is an unborn child with the same right to live as the rest of us. And where the pressures of poverty and corporate greed is such that abortion is a solution virtually - or in fact literally - forced on women, including some who would never choose it of their own free will.

Changes in the law won't alter that. I actually believe that for anyone who is seriously pro-life, changes in the law are irrelevant, and probably self-defeating. The priority is to provide help and support for mothers who find themselves driven towards abortion when that is not what they would choose. And yes, I also would like to see more people coming to share the belief that a fetus is an unborn chid, and that abortion is not an acceptable solution - but that has to be done person by person.

That means that there is a real bridge between a "pro-life" position and a "pro-choice" position - whichever side we are on, we should be in solidarity when it comes to protecting the right of a pregnant woman not to be forced into an unwanted abortion. That means fighting for the right kind and level of welfare rights, and childcare support, and help for people raising children with disabilities, and rights to parental leave and flexible working hours, and all kinds of stuff like that.

And so far as the rest of it, set it aside and agree to disagree for now, and accept that disagreeing doesn't mean hating.

And anybody who says they are "pro-life" and wants to cut help to lone parents - well, when I talked about decent people disagreeing, I wasn't including them.