Dell Dude, I agree. I am one of those who you wrote about, never quite forgiving myself for what I did. I am NOT a radical, my idea seems so to the pro-choice people. Most of them never went through an abortion legal or not. Most of them did have a horrible lack of counseling prior to the abortion. Close ended questions like "you cannot really afford another child can you?" I made a mistake that years later came back to haunt me. When I thought I had it altogether, Wham...PTSD..."flash backs if you will, the smells , the sounds, the words. If I am not careful, I will go into one. They are better, but it took 3 years to get "better". It has taken over 30 years to try to undo what was done.

The reaching out to the pregnant mothers is not because they are so rare, it is by women like me, supported by families friends and churches, who reach out to these mainly young women, because women like me have been there and we do not want to see other women torturing themselves the way we have done to ourselves. Some woman are more calous and can have an abortion (or several) and recommend them to their daughters. My best friend is one. She is a Christian, she supports Barak Obama and abortion. BUT she is still my friend.

Why is this author so bitter. What is the difference with forcing christian ideals and pushing atheist ideals?

An extremist position on any subject puts others on the defensive, and once people are on the defensive, they stop hearing and listening to each other, regardless of whether what they are all saying has merit or not.

As I've gotten a little older, and I'd like to think a little wiser as well, I find that both the pro-choice and pro-life positions on the issue of abortion have some merit.

For example, from a purely biological point of view, I don't know how anyone could say that ending a pregnancy doesn't end a life, because the fact is biologically, unless the pregnant woman were to miscarry naturally, which of course does happen, in 40 weeks a child would be born as a result of that pregnancy. So any position on abortion, pro-life or pro-choice, needs to think very seriously about that.

On the other hand, to teach abstinence-only birth control methods is naive. I think it is a safe assumption that, throughout the centuries, mankind has always had sex. The fact that our species is still here today is proof of this. Therefore, I think it is also a fairly safe assumption that people are having sex today, and will continue to have sex in the future. Mankind, as a species, has never abstained from having sex. If it had, it would not be here today. So anyone who thinks they are going to turn the tide of sexual reproduction simply by saying "don't do that" is kidding themselves.

I think that to ensure the health and lives of all women equally, abortion must remain legal. I would hate to think women would again be driven to back-alley abortionists as was the case before abortion became legal.

However, that said, I do think we as a nation need to become more sexually responsible, both as couples having sex and parents and schools teaching children about having sex and preventing unwanted pregnancy. There is an arsenal of highly reliable methods of birth control available. It is possible to have sex and not get pregnant, or to abstain from having sex if one so chooses. So just why are there so many unwanted pregnancies? With little exception (unpredictable factors such as rape, incest, severe birth defects, or life of the mother at risk), abortion should be largely a non-issue in this day and age. Yet it continues to be one of the most singularly divisive issues in our nation today. And for that I fault both extremist pro-choice and pro-life individuals, for not being willing to compromise and admit that BOTH sides have something valuable to say.

Most in the "pro-choice" crowd are not actually pro choice but pro abortion as a meas of birth control. Women almost always have a choice BEFORE they get pregnant and that message is missed by those they demand that abortions be free to anyone regardless of reason. There are the rare cases of rape and incest (a form of rape), and an even higher instance of carelessness. Women on the pill can also insist on using spermicides, a male condom, a female condom, and even the morning after pill. But killing a conceived life just because you made a mistake when you CHOSE to have sex is completely amoral. Ask the guilt ridden women that are suffering through the aftermath of their choice decades later. If you really don't want the child you conceive, then offer up the newborn for adoption. There are millions of people willing to adopt in this country. Murder is NOT be a legal choice.