[shrinkermd]

David Brooks has recently stated he left the Republican Party, but note he sees the problems much the same as most conservatives but tempers this with a compromise.

I am sorry this cannot be accessed by everyone--it requires 50$ a year to get some materials from the NYT.

[the invisib1e hand]

If we could get this issue away from the abortion professionals and their orthodoxies, we could reach a sensible solution: abortion would be legal, with parental consent for minors, during the first four or five months, and illegal except in extremely rare circumstances afterward....

What's worse, entering into a Faustian Bargain or being the guy who dreams it up?

[don-o]

process of emerging life

Coing a new phrase here? Every cell in a living human body is alive. Duh!

There is no "emerging."

Thanks for posting this. Will be interesting to see if Brooks' opinion gets traction.

[Tribune7]

If we could get this issue away from the abortion professionals

That's my thinking. If they take money for performing an abortion threw them in the worst prison we got for the rest of their lives.

That's what he means by "abortion professional" right?

[Elyse]

we could reach a sensible solution: abortion would be legal, with parental consent for minors, during the first four or five months, and illegal except in extremely rare circumstances afterward....

That's a sensible solution? No, thank you.

[don-o]

The name David Brooks rang a bell, but I wasn't sure. Here's a snip from his Wikipedia.

_____________________________________

Though he opposes what he sees as self-destructive behavior like teenage sex and divorce, Brooks is not a culture warrior in the traditional sense. His view is that "sex is more explicit everywhere...except in real life. As the entertainment media have become more sex-saturated, American teenagers have become more sexually abstemious" by "waiting longer to have sex...[and] having fewer partners." He sees the culture war as nearly over, because "today's young people...seem happy with the frankness of the left and the wholesomeness of the right." As a result, he is optimistic about the United States' social stability, which he considers to be "in the middle of an amazing moment of improvement and repair." (New York Times, April 17, 2005, 4-14.)

Brooks also broke with many in the conservative movement when, in late 2003, he came out in favor of same-sex marriage in his New York Times column. He equated the idea with traditional conservative values: "We should insist on gay marriage. We should regard it as scandalous that two people could claim to love each other and not want to sanctify their love with marriage and fidelity.... It's going to be up to conservatives to make the important, moral case for marriage, including gay marriage." (New York Time

[sono]

Advances in neonatology are making the boundary between late term abortion and infanticide a distinction without a difference.

[Tax-chick]

we could reach a sensible solution: abortion would be legal, with parental consent for minors, during the first four or five months,

In other words, keep killing babies as long as they're small enough that we can pretend they aren't human.

Sorry, David. God is not mocked.

[TigersEye]

And the obvious mystery is: When in this continuous process does human life begin?

Simple logic reveals the answer. At the moment of conception all of the physical components present are human in origin and life is present in them. Whatever you call the entity in question it is known that it is alive and it's classification must be "human" due to it's unquestionable origins.

Abortion is not about saving women’s lives!

Studies Find Abortions Have Long-Term Effects

45,951,133

Total Abortions since 1973

------------------------------------------------------------

Why the drop after 1960? (in deaths of women from illegal abortions)

The reasons were new and better antibiotics, better surgery and the establishment of intensive care units in hospitals. This was in the face of a rising population. Between 1967 and 1970 sixteen states legalized abortion. In most it was limited, only for rape, incest and severe fetal handicap (life of mother was legal in all states). There were two big exceptions — California in 1967, and New York in 1970 allowed abortion on demand. Now look at the chart carefully.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Abortion Statistics - Decision to Have an Abortion (U.S.)

· 25.5% of women deciding to have an abortion want to postpone childbearing

· 21.3% of women cannot afford a baby

· 14.1% of women have a relationship issue or their partner does not want a child

· 12.2% of women are too young (their parents or others object to the pregnancy)

· 10.8% of women feel a child will disrupt their education or career

· 7.9% of women want no (more) children

· 3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health

2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health

----------------------------------------------------------------------

So how many women’s lives have been saved by abortion?

Only about 3% of abortions since 1972 were reported to be “due to a risk to maternal health.” A reasonable person would recognize that not all of those cases represent a lethal risk. But let’s say they did. That means that nearly 45 million fetuses were butchered to save the lives of about 1.3 million women. Or put another way; 35 babies are killed to save each woman.

Abortion was legal in all 50 states prior to Roe v. Wade in cases of danger to the life of the woman.

Roe v Wade: FULL Text (The Decision that wiped out an entire Generation 33 years ago today)