Abortion

See other issues.

We hold that life begins the moment a fertilized egg starts to replicate or perhaps even the moment of fertilization. Considering the many definitions that exist regarding life, one only finds such characteristics as the ability to feel pain, or viability outside of some protective environment (eg. the womb) when people start talking about elective abortion, and it's clear that normal forms of reasoning are being warped to support special agendas. Life involves growth or replication, and the type of life it is (human, tree, monkey) is defined by the DNA of the life form.

As such, we do not support elective abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother and/or child is in jeopardy. We don't think that this requires any lengthy process of proving or investigating claims. We think that the only requirement before an abortion can occur should be the filing of an official statement of cause. A very simple form could be used with three check-boxes and perhaps some supporting statement, and optional registering of witnesses. In the case of threat to the mother's life, it should be very simple to require that a doctor certify the fact. In cases of rape and incest the form can also serve as a criminal complaint that would trigger an investigation (which need not necessarily complete before the abortion is provided for). Punishments can be devised for cases where people are found to have lied, but we don't think it is absolutely necessary to inject weighty government scrutiny as a precondition to abortion. Of course, some abuse will occur under such a system, but when abuse occurs it will be sufficient to completely shift the blame of such abuse onto the shoulders of those who perjure themselves as each individual will have clear understanding that they have lied and the government will have done its due diligence investigating and/or certifying the claims.

We do not hold that cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother and/or child is in jeopardy are conditions under which an abortion should occur, but we believe instead, that these are cases for which an individual may be allowed to make that decision, and that in these cases, nobody but the individual, her husband (if there is one), her doctor(s), and anyone else with whom she chooses to counsel, have any claim to be able to be involved in the decision.