RiverDog wrote:
If you turn off life support on a terminal patient, you're not making a medical decision, to the contrary, the doctor has run out of options and has put the ball back in the family's court so that it is no longer a medical issue. It's a private, family decision. I think that a good many people would consider abortion in a similar light.
Once again, keep in mind that I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. I'm playing a little bit of Devil's advocate.
I appreciate your devil's advocate position - I do that too sometimes.
I think the difference is that the patient in a "turn off life support" situation is not capabable of maintaining life on their own. In the case of a fetus, it is capable of living and growing without the aid of machines - there's nothing to turn off. Additionally, the doctor must take specific steps to snuff out the life of that fetus and to extract it from the mother so it doesn't rot and cause damage to the mother.
I'm not for abortion of any kind since I'm Catholic. I also know that my beliefs are not the majority in the country and that the vast majority is for abortions befor the third trimester. I think that most fetus' that make it to the third trimester have a good chance to survive if born early. I also know that the majority of people are NOT for late term abortions. So that's where I think the states will come down on the issue. No late term abortions but ok on 1st or 2nd trimester abortions. Again, I'm not for any of them but realize that there would be a compromise on the issue.