Cashman, may I respectfully disagree with you on this issue. The abortion issue is not a choice between right and wrong, but between right and right

It involves answering two questions, not one.

Question ! - Does a woman have the right to control her own body? To me, the answer is very clearly yes.

Question 2 - Does the unborn infant have the right to live? Again a clear and resounding yes.

Balancing these two rights is what the Supreme Court attempted to do in Roe v Wade. In essence it left the choice of the mother supreme in the first two trimesters, but gave the state the right to regulate abortion (act on the behalf of the infant) in the third trimester. Another way to understand it is that in the first two trimesters, the infant is not viable outside the womb and therefore the mother's rights trump the rights of the infant. In the third trimester, when the infant is capable of living outside of the womb, the state may choose to have the infants right to live take priority over the mother's rights.

I understand that this is a simplified explanation of the ruling in one of the, if not the most, contentious issues of our time. IMHO, the court did a good job of balancing these rights. I am am first and foremost a conservative who believes in conservation of our resources, limited government, respect for individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. Respecting individual liberty requires that I consider the rights of both the child and the mother.