Abortion is often defended in terms of the woman’s right to choose.   I agree fully.

A woman has a right to make many choices regarding her own body.  She can choose not to have unprotected sex.  She can choose to use contraceptive medications.  She can choose to abstain from sex completely.  But she cannot choose to deny the rights of another for her own convenience.

Rights come with responsibilities.  The free exercise of my rights stops at the point where it would interfere with your rights, and vice versa.  Abortion doesn’t affect only the woman.  It involves two people, the woman and her child, as any simple DNA test will show.  The rights of both must be considered.

As an individual, a woman has the right to make choices about her own body.    The pro-abortion argument that “a woman has a right to choose what to do with her own body,” is not an accurate description of the debate.  As a parent, the woman even has the right to make choices about her child.  She does not, however, have the right to end the life of her child.

Abortion advocates understand this.  They intentionally pull on your emotional heartstrings with pleas of “women’s rights.”  In doing so, they completely ignore the rights of the innocent child who’s life they seek to end.

A phrase often heard in controversial discussions as an attempt to find some type of middle ground is “it depends on your beliefs.”  But what does that really mean?

If I believe the sky is purple, and you believe it is orange, does agreeing to disagree by saying “it depends on your belief” change the fact that the sky is actually blue?  Of course not.  We are both free to believe whatever we want, but society as a whole will still call the sky blue and if we choose to engage in activities requiring factual knowledge we better be prepared to call it blue as well.

Most often, the phrase is heard in political debates.  But do those uttering it, really mean it?  I would venture to guess that most of the time the answer is no.

Would anyone seriously argue that laws regarding murder, rape, assault, or theft should “depend on your beliefs?”  Of course not.  Regardless of ones’ personal beliefs, there is one common principle that the law applies in these situations.  Individuals are free to hold their own beliefs, but they are not free to act on them in a way that would infringe upon the rights of another.

Suppose someone says, “I don’t believe that brunettes are people,” or “I don’t believe that children under the age of five are people.” Does that make it true?  Of course not.  People, are people, and the law is there to protect the rights of all.  Certainly no one would argue that Hitler had a right to kill Jews  because he believed they were not people, or that the Klu Klux Klan has a right to kill African Americans because they believe they are not people.