Expert: Sound Advice - 9/19/2005

Question
hello I am doing an important project on abortion and I was wondering if you would answer some questions for me...


1.what side of abortion are you on?
2.why have you chosen this side?
3.how many women have abortions each year?
4.do you know anyone who has had an abortion, and if so has it effected their life in any way?

thank you for your time

Answer
Hi Alex,

Sure I can answer those questions.


1) I am on the side of abortion that is true.  To the best of my knowledge and research (which is quite a bit) I would be placed in the pro-life category for the time being.  I used to be strongly pro-choice but after researching the difficult areas of my position I found that I could no longer hold this point of view.

2)  I choose this side because it is true.  Quite simply, my mind follows this logic.  A human being's life starts at conception.  This would mean that at even one cell, it is of the species Homo sapiens and it is alive (all that is biologically necessary for something to be a "human being").  Furthermore, it is individual (it is not the mother (different blood type and often different sex, always different genes) and it has the inherent capacity to function as a human (without interruption, even a one-celled conceptus will grow into a human similiar to ourselves).

3) The number is unknown, the statistics I use (and almost always use) are from the pro-choice side and usually from the Alan Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood's research division).  They say that in 2002, 1.29 million abortions occurred in the US alone.  AGI estimated roughly 46 million induced abortions occur each year worldwide.  Again, these are pro-choice statistics, the pro-life side would probably say higher numbers occur.

4) I know many women who have had abortions and also men who have encouraged women to have them.  I would say without a doubt that every one of them has been affected by abortion.