Thread:Comments:Nevada Republican opposes Angle for US Senate over 'extreme' anti-abortion position/Should abortions be allowed in cases of rape and incest?/reply (12)

Personally, I am horrified by abortion. I do see it as the killing of an unborn child, and I think that attempts to exactly define when a fetus becomes a human being and is capable of experiencing suffering is a cold and dangerous mental exercise fraught with slippery slopes.

But I still support choice regarding abortion. I think it's a decision that requires tons of responsible introspection, and I wish that anyone who used it casually as a means of birth control would suffer some consequence (and they are out there, I have met them).

I support it on the same grounds of principle as self-defense. To have a child when unprepared is a devastating blow to one's livelihood. It can completely destroy an unprepared person's opportunities to build a future or indulge in whatever gives them joy in life.

If a person encounters this fate through carelessness, then they really shouldn't end the life that they've created. However, this is a matter of purely subjective judgement that a person can only make for themselves.

If a person encounters this fate by no fault of their own, then I have no expectation of them to simply resign to it if it's not what they want, just as I don't expect a kidnapped person to resign willingly to their captor's basement.