I’ve been in academia for nine years – first as a grad student and then as a prof. It can be quite lonely here for a conservative.

I agree with this 100%, which is one of the main reasons I intend to become a teacher. It was Plato that said, “Give me the songs of a nation, and it doesn’t matter who writes its laws.”

I don’t feel it’s all-encompassing, but I certainly think there’s a lot of truth there.

Abortion is kind of like the immigration issue — those of us who are stubborn about maintaining a median position (I am pro-life 100%, but on immigration I support a pathway to citizenship at the same time that I support building a wall) have to accept the fact that fora like this website are not going to be places where we can explain our hybrid position ad infinitum. If you are a pro-choice conservative on this website, I think you have to cease and desist after two or three posts (at the most). When I post about immigration, I respond to the first flame and then move on. Otherwise you are, as Malkin says, “feeding the troll.”

Your surprise is understandable. But some of my dearest friends are Democrats. One of my favorite spiritual leaders, Billy Graham, is a registered Democrat though from what I understand he has voted across party lines in the past. I am also fully aware that no single political party has the market cornered on morality. In fact, I am not a registered Republican, but I definitely hold a lot of conservative viewpoints. One more thing: there are many, many pro-lifers that do not think you’re a monster because of the beliefs you hold. Many of us might challenge ideas, but not degrade the person. We challenge ideas (and ideologies), because ideas (and ideologies) have consequences and serious, long-affecting ones at that.

“The core reason why I do not vote republican is because they want limited government(which is not a bad thing), but want to control personal lives.”

Ok, I think I understand. (And if I don’t, please correct me if I’m wrong.) You don’t vote Republican because you feel that they are hypocritical. Let’s think about that for a moment. Could you provide an example?

“If the embryo/fetus can not survive out side of my body then I feel my body is just that – my body.”

Here’s where I think this argument breaks down: a baby, no matter at what stage of life development he/she is (1 week-2 years, or whatever) cannot survive by itself neither inside or outside of a woman’s body. This baby still needs our help, still needs our nourishment, still needs our affection, and still needs our care. It seems to me that we just have the priviledge and responsability to care for them until they can care for themselves.

I applaud you and respect the fact that you chose to have your children. That takes guts. Really, thank you. That takes setting aside perhaps dreams or goals you had in order to be responsable for them. But I would like to take the challenge further……even if a woman is not able to care for the child, I say to them: please, please, please let that child live. Even if it means that the woman would make the choice to give up her child, I’ll take abandonment over abortion any day of the week. Why do you think that women who do this are in torment about it for years as you told us with your story about your friend? Because having the child makes you appreciate the work it takes to bring a child to life. Life is so precious to God that He makes us remember it forever.

I work with teens and young adults regularly. I hear their stories all the time. The courageous ones who kept their children, and the heartbreak of those girls who chose not to. My heart goes out to both. But my heart aches more for the children who were not given the chance to live.

Let’s err on the side of life. Always. There are some fundamental things in life worth fighting for, and life is one of them.

To Lorione: I would like to offer a little background on myself so you can get a better sense of where I am coming from. I was pregnant at 16 years old. I had my son as a senior in high school once I turned 17. I considered an abortion, but felt that my child was just as needed in society as a married couple’s child is. I then had my next son at the age of 19.(and to all the bigots out there – no one is perfect so please do not judge. I had intentions on getting married to the man that fathered both of my children but he became a jerk, so my boys and I are better off without him. I was young, dumb, and in love.) Now if I was what people consider the typical pro-choicer, I would have said, “oh this baby is not going to get in my way – take me to the clinic!” But I didn’t. I accepted responsibility for the role that I played. However the father didn’t.

And that is also a concern about Obama – I hope he intends to put his foot down about child support, and dead beat fathers, because it is pretty ridiculous. So while we may disagree on the legal stance of abortion, I may be pro-choice but I am anti-abortion. I did not make that my first alternative. I made a plan for me and my kids, and I stuck to it. I have never regretted not getting an abortion; the only thing I regret was not making better decisions as a teenager, and protecting myself, since I thought I was old enough to have sex. As far as the viability thing, trust me having an abortion at 20 weeks should not even be an option. I see, sometimes in the phonebook, listings for abortion clinics, and some say “we do procedures up to 24 weeks”. What the hell???? That is 6 months and it makes me want to vomit. As you said, preemies are born and survive at 6 months. When I brought up that argument about viability, I was looking more at something like between 7-9 weeks of gestation. Not that it makes it right, but I have not heard anything about a 7-9 week fetus being viable. But like I said hopefully more people will prevent themselves from ever having to make this choice.

“I am not intending to make a fetus seem less important than anybody else. However it is my body and that is the way it should be treated.”

I think this is the argument that many pro-choice advocates come down to, so I am particularly curious of it. Many of us pro-lifers believe that our body is our body and we can do whatever we want with it……until another body is inside us. Many of us who are devout Christians believe that our body is actually not our own, but God’s, and that we should be good stewards of it. So my question is….how is it that you came to the conclusion that your body is still your own even if you are pregnant with a child?

I hope I made sense!

I am not intending to make a fetus seem less important than anybody else. However it is my body and that is the way it should be treated. If one decided at 9 weeks of gestation to say “I don’t want this child; but since you are so concerned about it, you take it and place it in you and carry it and deliver it” – ridiculous right?? I understand adoption and taking responsibility for your actions, but I can’t get over the fact that this is my body and there is no way for you to take and raise my fetus – so why should your opinion matter??

And before anyone accuses me, I am not an advocate for killing children. I just respect the Supreme Courts ruling about the fact of when a fetus can or can not survive outside the body. This is why I am against late term abortions. I do not know of any medical reasons as to why a mother would not be able to deliver her child – all I said was that IF it were a legitimate reason…and mental stress is not good enough. I mean basically something severe enough to where the doctor would say “if you continue this pregnancy, you will die”. Like I said I do not know of anything that would apply to this reason – but if it were – the choice should be there.

I would like to say one last thing. I think the adoption laws in this country need to be revisited. There should be absolute secrecy for the parent that did put their child up for adoption – unless the parent wants the adoption to be open. My best friend’s mom unfortunately put her first born up for adoption – as she couldn’t care for her. She requested that her information be kept private but 19 years later she has a women banging on her door and basically harassing her. Her daughter could not accept the fact that she put her up for adoption but went on to have other children. She would not leave them alone and it got so bad that my best friend’s family had to move away. How did this happen?? She tried to explain her reasons, but the young lady would not hear of it. The mother felt bad enough for having to give up her child in the first place and then she must re-live it all over again. (I know this is a bit off topic but while I was here I wanted to express how I felt about that.)

I’m sorry, but the caps, combined with the ignorance of these rants causes me to throw the ‘hysteria’ flag on the field. You can practically see the nostrils flaring from Miss Carter on this one. Yes, it’s great to have a free-forum of sorts, here, but that works both ways. You may declare your opinion (without abuse of good manners, ‘natch), but we then may declare ours. The readers will decide which ones are supported by logic, facts, and goodness, and which are ill-informed emotions in need of help of one kind or another.

…I’m grabbing my baseball bat.