I could not agree with you more twila.
Yup.
Let's look at it another way, tibear. Abortion has been practiced all through history. It used to be done with certain plants, in the 19th and early 20th century man-made chemicals took over. The basic method was that the woman would poison herself, hopefully killing the fetus without killing herself. Look at a newspaper or catalogue from around the turn of the century and you'll see all kinds of ads for "lady's aids." What they really are is abortion pills made from lovely things like arsenic.
So now we have mechanical methods. These are generally methods that were pioneered by midwives, who had taken over from the shamen when it came to women's reproductive issues. Things have been improved by modern science and technology so there is less chance of the woman bleeding to death or being killed by infection, but it basically comes down to using mechanical means instead of plants or man-made chemicals to induce a miscarriage.
The point is that until the Victorian era, abortion was a matter that was a private decision made by the woman and her medical advisor. Your religious text does not prohibit it.
Now you are trying to exert a personal belief onto people who not only do not share that belief, but have historically had a right to make that decision all by themselves without the interference of others. Women had that right when they were still considered to be little more than chattel. What gives you the right to take it away?
