[Kyuusai]

There are two questions at issue here: "When does life begin?" and "When is it acceptable to take a human life?" Quite frankly, the answers to these depend heavily on one's spiritual viewpoints.

There's not going to begin to be reconciliation between these viewpoints unless we're able to learn to scientifically test for a soul.

Myself, I cannot say that abortion is acceptable if done before a certain point. We just don't know when something becomes life. If there's a spirit, when is it relevant? I do believe there is a spiritual component to life, and since I don't know when something goes from "becoming" to "being", the only safe answer I can give is to assume that life begins at conception. Do I know that? No. I simply cannot in good conscience make another claim without evidence. We can say it's the woman's body, but... at whatever point life begins, it becomes another person's body, as well... And there are babies who survive late-term abortions and are left to die (So what are they at that point?).

And when is it acceptable to take a life? The one thing most can agree on is that it's acceptable to take a life when that life is threatening your own. While I have heard of hard-core anti-abortion activists choosing to risk a dangerous pregnancy, I've never heard from any who say that a family in that decision shouldn't have a choice. How inconvenient must things be to say that killing for convenience is OK?

Aside from that, though, we have terrible, terrible double standards. We give the woman carrying the child full choice on the matter, but often a living will/power of attorney/health care proxy is required for a responsible family member to determine the outcome of a person assumed to be permanently incapacitated. Terminally ill people at the end of long, full lives must live out their final days in pain and suffering because merciful killing is not an option, while women are allowed to abort a child for the sake of convenience. I don't think that we, as a society, can justly say this is a matter of choice when we are not consistent on the issue of life from a standpoint of governance.