[Will_Zurmacht]

yes, it does actually.

I consider it akin to murder.

And yet I would not be honest with you, or myself if I said I approved of the ALL-POWERFUL STATE forcing a rape victim to give birth to a child she did not consent to creating.

I understand other's passion on this issue, and I respect them. I just wish people would step back for a moment and hear me out on this one...

[curiosity]

And yet I would not be honest with you, or myself if I said I approved of the ALL-POWERFUL STATE forcing a rape victim to give birth to a child she did not consent to creating.

Last time I checked, even the most extreme libertarians considered protecting innocents from murder to be a legitimate exercise of state power.

[TigersEye]

I hear you. I just don't agree with you. If abortion were illegal in cases of rape the state is not forcing the woman to carry the child. Biology is what causes the pregnancy to exist. Regardless of the law it is the woman's conscience that determines whether she will carry the baby or kill it. You are turning cause and effect on its head when you lay blame on the state for a law that simply protects life.

[DameAutour]

Your imagery is powerful. Ominous men in black, forcing rape victims to give birth under threat of prison. I can see them now, standing with the hand cuffs, saying "You WILL have that child!"

Scary. It exists only in the imagination, but imagination can be powerful.

I can also see something else. I see babies. I can see their sensitive skin burned by salt. Skin so sensitive it is like one big open wound. And I can see them drowning in saline.

I can see other babies shrinking, trying to escape a sharp blade. Screaming. Silently.

You can see it too. It's happened millions of times. They even have it on video. You don't even need an imagination. Just a conscience.