You guys probably know I have a medical background, so I've had to think about this abortion topic a bit. I've delivered nearly 100 babies. Once, during OB training, my boss called me to come watch/participate in an abortion. Afterward, I told him that he need never call me again, and he didn't. Gives you an idea about my gut feelings, but let's not stop there.

I firmly believe that abortion as a means of simple "whoops" birth control - careless, repeated, flippant - is horrible. It's such a complex issue that to make it unimportant is lazy and sinful, if there is such a thing. I've cared for more than one woman  who has had almost twenty abortions.

But, there are absolutely circumstances where it seems like the right, even kind, thing to do. Saying it should never ever happen is just being thoughtless about the multilayered topic.

To be clear: after conception, the embryo/fetus/baby is not the woman's body. The fetus (let's use one word) has a distinct set of genes that are not the mother's. For instance, it can have a different blood type. So reducing the topic to "controlling a woman's body" misses this fact. (Pregnancy prevention has to do with the woman's body, of course.)

So abortion is really talking about the consequence to another -potentially- living thing. But let's not get too black&white about it. Truly, up to a certain point, it can be something as non-human as a morula, which  is not something I would consider a baby or fetus or whatever. So I'm gonna jump completely out of the topic of "but when is it a baby?"

But here's where I do jump back in, and the point of this ramble: politicians have no business legislating health care, and that includes abortion. They don't know enough, and the knowledge base of health care changes constantly, when it's done right. In my home town, one of the elected officials was a C student but a good basketball player and I completely believe that he can't read a lot of the polysyllabic words in this screed. And yet he's pontificating at meetings about what "should" be done on this topic and others, and frequently by invoking Christianity. Makes me livid.

TL;DR: medical care decisions shouldn't be legislated by people who don't know the topic; they need to stay in their lane and let medical boards decide who is/isn't giving bad medical care.

Once, during OB training, my boss called me to come watch/participate in an abortion. Afterward, I told him that he need never call me again, and he didn't. Gives you an idea about my gut feelings, but let's not stop there.

I firmly believe that abortion as a means of simple "whoops" birth control - careless, repeated, flippant - is horrible. It's such a complex issue that to make it unimportant is lazy and sinful, if there is such a thing. I've cared for women who have had almost twenty abortions.

But, there are absolutely circumstances where it seems like the right, even kind, thing to do. Saying it should never ever happen is just being thoughtless about the multilayered topic.

To be clear: after conception, the embryo/fetus/baby is not the woman's body. The fetus (let's use one word) has a distinct set of genes that are not the mother's. For instance, it can have a different blood type. So reducing the topic to "controlling a woman's body" misses this fact. (Pregnancy prevention has to do with the woman's body, of course.)

You guys probably know I have a medical background, so I've had to think about this abortion topic a bit. I've delivered nearly 100 babies. Once, during OB training, my boss called me to come watch/participate in an abortion. Afterward, I told him that he need never call me again, and he didn't. Gives you an idea about my gut feelings, but let's not stop there.

I firmly believe that abortion as a means of simple "whoops" birth control - careless, repeated, flippant - is horrible. It's such a complex issue that to make it unimportant is lazy and sinful, if there is such a thing. I've cared for women who have had almost twenty abortions.

But, there are absolutely circumstances where it seems like the right, even kind, thing to do. Saying it should never ever happen is just being thoughtless about the multilayered topic.

To be clear: after conception, the embryo/fetus/baby is not the woman's body. The fetus (let's use one word) has a distinct set of genes that are not the mother's. For instance, it can have a different blood type. So reducing the topic to "controlling a woman's body" misses this fact. (Pregnancy prevention has to do with the woman's body, of course.)

So abortion is really talking about the consequence to another -potentially- living thing. But let's not get too black&white about it. Truly, up to a certain point, it can be something as non-human as a morula, which  is not something I would consider a baby or fetus or whatever. So I'm gonna jump completely out of the topic of "but when is it a baby?"

But here's where I do jump back in, and the point of this ramble: politicians have no business legislating health care. They don't know enough, and the knowledge base of health care changes constantly, when it's done right. In my home town, one of the elected officials was a C student but a good basketball player and I completely believe that he can't read a lot of the polysyllabic words in this screed. And yet he's pontificating at meetings about what "should" be done on this topic and others, and frequently by invoking Christianity. Makes me livid.

TL;DR: medical care decisions shouldn't be legislated by people who don't know the topic; they need to stay in their lane and let medical boards decide who is/isn't giving bad medical care.

I understand your passionate response, but it didn’t really address my question.

I understand your passionate response, but it didn’t really address my question.

I understand your passionate response, but it didn’t really address my question.

The question then is (with all sincerity, and clearly each state has its own rules even pro-abortion states), are there compromises from pro-abortion groups?