Pro Middle

There's a big controversy going on at my university right now because they gave an honorary degree to a doctor who gave abortions and helped to get the procedure legalized. Since this is a blog and I'm supposed to talk about controversial issues 'n stuff, I better write about it.

What I find fascinating is that people are either hardcore pro-choice or hardcore pro-life. There's no moderate position. I think it would be neat if there was a middle ground, where abortion is legal in some circumstances but not in others; where unborn fetuses are alive, but less alive than a fully grown human; where abortion is sorta mildly wrong...like snacking on a peanut you didn't pay for in a bulk food store.

I'd like to say that my position is somewhere in this middle ground, though I must admit that it comes out sounding closer to the pro-choice side. I think that even if a fetus is "alive", however you define it, some taking of life is justified. Some life is more valuable than other life. It's cold, but it's the truth. We hardly think about the ethical issues involved in putting down a dog who is too old...or killing a family of baby rabbits who lost their mother...or war, for that matter. These things are tough, but in the long run they're for the best. Taking the position that killing life, any life, is wrong and shouldn't be done, leads to pain and suffering among a large number of preexisting lives. Happiness among current life is something to be treasured as much as the mere existence of life, in my humble opinion. There is also the choice aspect, and imposing beliefs (especially religious beliefs) upon others is just wrong.

I have rambled long enough though, and no minds will be changed here.

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