Abortion isn’t murder

I wish there were fewer abortions, but I have to disagree with the idea that abortion is murder. If that were really true, then any woman who has an abortion for any reason at any stage of pregnancy is guilty of the wanton, premeditated murder of her own child and should get the appropriate penalty: death or life without possibility of parole.

To do otherwise is to trivialize abortion and discriminate against people who wait till their victims are born to kill them. I really don’t know anyone who wants this to be the law, so I do think that at some level almost everyone distinguishes between abortion (at least in the early stages when the vast majority of abortions are performed) and murder.

People should use the highly effective available technologies to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The wanted ones are almost never aborted. Please put your daughter on long-term birth control as soon as she’s fertile. And when that’s available, put your son on it, too.

Fundamentalist religious teachings along with fear and guilt trips are not effective in preventing premarital sexual activity.

This story was originally published May 22, 2017 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Abortion isn’t murder."