A year or so into our marriage my wife told me that she had once had an abortion. It was one of those "convenience" abortions. The convenience was to avoid telling her parents. She was literally afriad of them. Even after a decade and a half of marriage and two children she was afraid they might realize that she was sleeping with a man. Not rational but I'm willing to bet pretty common in our generation.

Jenny, I realize this discussion strikes close to the heart but, for the purposes of our debate, we have to confront the question of why a woman wants or needs an abortion. I agree, in the real world, it is none of our business. But here and now, we need to discuss the reasons in general.

Let's consider the woman who finds herself pregnant. Some of the posts above have touched on this question to some degree but no one has looked at the individual who has to make that decision.

As Kat has pointed out women do not always seem to have the right to say with whom they share a bed or what kind of birth control should be used. Now some people are telling them they have no right to determine the outcome.

I don't know about any of you but my individual rights are pretty important to me. Please understand that my rights are not so important to me that I would let them take precedence over a living breathing human being. I would never kill any real person to enforce my rights.

BUT! I would excise a batch of cells from my body, whether it be a cancerous growth, a wart, or the precursor to life. I would do that because it is my right to make that decision.

Now the pro lifers are gearing up to call that batch of cells a human being with a right to life. They are wrong. Until that bunch of cells can exist independently outside of the mother's body you cannot call it a human being. It is merely the module that will someday encompass a human awareness.

Part of the reason I can say this is that I do not believe in the spiritual side of the argument. I do not believe there is a metaphysical portion that slips into the "baby" at some point in the pregnancy. The uniqueness of each human is acquired through a mix of genetic pre-programming and experiences. Until that "baby" can experience life all you have is the potential for human existance. When that baby gets to the point where it CAN begin accumulating experience then I believe it should be allowed to.

That is my long winded support for early abortion. There should be a logical cut off date where the woman has to make her decision or agree to bear the child.

So here is my view of how the system should be set up:

- Abortion should be available until the baby can exist outside of the mother
- The father should be part of the educational and financial process, enforced by the law (in other words, subject to (minor) criminal penalty for not being there for the woman)
- Adoption services should be available for all women with an unwanted baby. (Let's face it, there are plenty of women who will not make their decision in time.) - Fiancial aid should be available for those women who end up with a baby they didn't want.
- All children should be educated about birth control in plain language using well illustrated texts. On completion of a test the boys should be issued a card which states that they have completed that educational process and explains they are liable for criminal penalties if they impregnate a woman. In other words, register that gun!

And in the end, none of it will work and the problem will still be there.