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I read a bumper sticker today that said something to the effect that Conservatives are hypocrites because they are pro-life, pro-death penalty, and pro-war. Personally, I think this bumper needs to rethink things a little. The gist of this Conservative way of thinking is that there is a very stark line between good and evil: to be anti-abortion and yet support killing for executions and war is about protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. I may not agree with the individual stance on the three issues, but I see no hypocrisy in the position. It’s for the protection of the innocent that executions and war are supposedly carried out, and this seems rational to me.

In theory, I’m in favor of abortions, but even so, I’m more or less onboard for the above type of thinking. I’m not so naive to think that pacifism and diplomacy can carry the day. Human kind is not that trustworthy. Consequently, I realize that there are things worth fighting for, things worth dieing for, and things worth killing for.

I don’t think that I’ve written on abortion yet on this site, although I really feel like I need to. Let me boil down my opinion quickly, and I’ll come back to a larger discussion later. First off, I obviously don’t hold any kind of notions of supernatural influence over pregnancy. So, the fertilization of an egg by sperm does not make life some special act. It’s a damn cool biological process, but I don’t think it provides the “entity” with any inherent specialness. To terminate a new pregnancy–to me–is no different than terminating the functions of any other cell in a body.

That said, I feel strongly that there needs to be an emphasis placed heavily on the protection of human life and pleasure at all stages of existence. So, while I don’t think that a new human embryo is Jesus’s homeboy, it should receive at least special considerations because of what it will one day become. I loathe the idea that abortion should be available without society thinking about the loss of life in at least some way. I don’t mean for us to be guilty necessarily, but there’s a tradeoff for the benefit of one life (the mother) over that of another (the fetus). That should at least mean something.

I guess I feel kind of the reverse of the bumper sticker: i find it at lease somewhat hypocritical to be pro-abortion but anti-war and anti-execution. I’d rather kill adults than potential children, especially considering that adults have volition (to some extent).

In any event, I have no problem with early-term abortion. I start to get uneasy when we’re discussing second- and third trimester ones though. Granted, I leave room for some exceptions (and my exceptions are probably much more liberal than most), but I feel kind of like the mother had her chance to make up her mind, and now you’re pushing things a bit. This is hard for me to say, because I hate the idea of unwanted children having to struggle through a crappy life because of bad choice by the mother. But, if society is to feel good about itself in any meaningful way, you have to at some point choose life over the alternative.

Anyways, I’ll get off my serious guy soapbox for now. Maybe next time I’ll talk about post-birth abortions. I might be willing to budge on a few of those.