Unfortunately, this is a very gray area. There are so many people shouting on various sides that it's hard to make sense sometimes.

You have people screaming that they don't want government to pay for an abortion (couple hundred dollars) and they'll be the same sones screaming that they don't want the government paying for the birth (several thousand) or welfare/assistance after the birth (which can be hundreds of thousands in a lifetime).

I had to clean up the mess from what is medically termed a "spontaneous abortion" - colloquially known as a miscarriage. My then-wife was in no shape to do it.

I simply can't force myself to believe that a clump of cells has the same rights as a born person. Don't get me wrong - there is the *potential* there, nobody can argue against that. Having been through the process twice (I have two daughters), you can't help but be affected by it. But what my ex-wife lost was not in the same category as my two girls (now 17 and 22).

I also speak from the experience of one who was adopted at birth.

And, if you think it through - that every fetus, every blastocyte, every fertilized egg has the *same* rights to life as one who has been born, you set a chilling precedent. Then you open the door for the 'miscarriage police' and charges of (at the very least) "negligent homicide" if a woman is deemed to not have taken care of herself enough during pregnancy.

That is *very* scary.

As it is, with more and better contraception (among other reasons) the abortion rate is going down and has been for some time now. This, to me, is A Good Thing.