But First . . .

I will always love you — sung by a financial analyst with her mouth shut.  Pretty great, if you have two minutes.

And now . . .

We have too many people on the planet.

If you don’t believe me, read How The World Really Works (and if you do believe me, maybe read it anyway?).

Which leads one to wonder whether it’s sensible to have the government force poor women and young girls to have children they don’t want.

Rich adult women can of course travel to the majority of countries where abortion remains legal and safe.

Mike S.: “Abortion is never ‘safe’ for the human being whose life is snuffed out.  It is, IMHO, the ultimate power grab by the powerful over the powerless.”

→ Mike is a caring, thoughtful person whose readership I value.  But I’d ask whether he thinks that at two or three months (say), a fetus with no thoughts, no consciousness, no memories is more one of God’s beautiful, feeling creatures than, say, a calf or a lamb or an octopus?

No question, a fertilized egg has the POTENTIAL to become a conscious human.  Even the next Shakespeare or Serena Williams.  We’d all agree with that.

But unless our goal is to allow sex only for procreation — or to greatly expand the population (already more than tripled in just my lifetime) — or to cull it only by famine, disease, and war — then it would seem to me that things like contraception, Plan B, and abortion-within-the-limits-of-Roe-v.-Wade are worth preserving.

And that’s even before you get to balancing the interest of the fetus with the interests of the mother or discussing rape and incest.

Tough lines to draw.

But lines, I think, that need to be drawn nonetheless.

And what sanctions, if any, would Mike impose on countries like Mongolia — but also Canada, Europe, Australia, India, Japan, and others — that DO allow abortion (yet somehow ban assault weapons)?

The feelings Mike and so many others have on this issue are heartfelt (obviously) and deserve respect.  But I keep going back to the article Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan wrote for PARADE 32 years ago (under the brilliant editorship of Walter Anderson) that struck me then and strikes me now as being about as thoughtful and sensible as anyone could hope for.

Executive summary: It’s a difficult, sometimes agonizing issue; but the line should ordinarily be drawn at the point where the fetus attains the capacity for human thought.  Which happens to align nicely with the limits imposed by Roe v. Wade.

Happy Pride, everyone.  Unlike abortion, which is a tough issue, “gay rights” is easy.  Love between two people . . . whether or not of the same race, sex, or religion . . . is a beautiful thing.

Period.