Morality and legality of abortion

Somewhere amidst the abortion debates of the last quarter century, the real issue

has been lost.  The focus has become too religious for a country that has separated church

and state.  Therefore, I won't argue the religious rights and wrongs of abortion.  No

answers can be derived until we focus on what the law and our citizens do value, because

this is how laws are changed.  American laws hold sacred the value of human rights....but

when do a woman's end, and a child's begin?

The saving grace, and ultimately, the great flaw of the Constitution is it's

variability.  Our founding fathers created it as an open door, to allow future generations to

correct their mistakes, but also to make them, and to contradict themselves ethically and

morally, on the whim of a generation.  As a nation, we have always attempted a degree of

morality in our laws, a shared belief in what is right and wrong that is eforced by the law.

We assert that to ahrm another intentionally or otherwise is wrong and deserving of punishment.

Our laws condemn murderers and shun drunk drivers, charging involuntary manslaughter in the case

that he/she inadvertently kills another in an accident.  There

are severe repercussions for rapists and assault of another person.  We also often assert that

to harm oneself intentionally or in a way that could have been prevented by our own

precaution is wrong.  These examples include the seatbelt and helmet laws and the ingestion of harmful drugs.

In keeping with our common and lawful morality that is careful to protect human life, the legality

of abortion appears incongruent.

An important question of this issue is of the point at which the

life conceived inside a woman's body is considered a life, rather than her personal property. 

After conception, is there such a point htat "the right to choose" can be exercised as an alternative to a

condom or pill to prevent the said conception? 

Prochoisce supporters wil continue to argue that a woman has a right to do with her body as she chooses

including termination of an unwanted pregnancy.  However, nature has decreed the bodies of the same women

as indispensible protection for a life too vulnerable to survive outside of this sanctuary.  Should this

biological right create a parallel between the human gestation period and a 1-month trial run?

Whether not abortion is morally acceptable, it is in many cases replacing conventional

birth contral and postponing women's decisions as to whether they desire a child.  Factors such

as invoncenience, financial stability, and bad relationships have become grounds for abortion.  These

feelings should be evaluated before a women begins to engage in the very act that promotes pro-creation.

The necessary precautions can then be taken to prevent the otherwise inevitable, rather than

trying to reverse a life already brought to existence.

Abortion was legalized at a time when women burned their bras and demanded to be liberated,

mainly from men.  Somehow this movement shocked a generally conservative government into giving

these women what they wanted:  absolute freedom from men.  Today, with their demands fulfilled,

perhaps women in the government alike have taken a moment to look at their handiwork and wonder,

"What have we done?"