I oppose all laws restricting the legality of abortion. At the same time I oppose all use of public funds for their use to assist in abortions and the use of public funds to educate the public in support of either side of the issue.
The issue of abortion is a complicated one. At the personal level I dislike abortions. It is a poor and dangerous form of birth control. The issue for me is extremely clear-cut in the first three months of gestation (the fetus is clearly not human, as the neo-cortex has not yet developed) and thus I believe that it is a womans right to choose (and pay) for an abortion. The issue is just as clear on the last three months of pregnancy, when a baby is capable of breathing, eating, and most importantly thinking and learning, an abortion at this stage (unless in cases of extreme danger for the mother) is clearly the termination of a human life. It is of course the second trimester that is tricky. Although more thought is of course necessary, I'm an advocate of finding new, creative solutions that may make the issue less divisive, I could see a possible solution to make abortion illegal after the third trimester, with a graduating punishment that goes from complete innocence at the third month to a murder charge at the seventh.
I still have two important issues that I believe must be addressed on this topic: the federal stance on abortion and the public funding of either side of the issue.
When, in 1973, the Supreme Court decided to take a stance on this issue I believe that it overstepped its bounds. The United States Constitution does not have anything to say on the subject of abortion, one way or the other, while on the other hand it very clearly, in amendments ninth and tenth reserves those rights to the states or to the people.
I hold a firm position agaist the use of our tax dollars for the public funding of abortion related activities, in favor or against. I hold that if a person is, on moral grounds, against abortion, that person should not be forced to give money to fund abortions, and I also believe that if a person is in favor of legalized abortion, that person should not be forced to give money to organizations that are trying to make it illegal: in other words, I want the government out of this issue completely!
Finally, my personal position on the issue is that I dislike abortions and encourage women and their partners to consider other options, particularly since there are so many couples looking for babies to adopt, but I can also understand how hard this choice can be and how under some circumstances bringing an unloved baby into a difficult situation.
Roberto Leibman
email: statesenate@leibman.net
web: http://www.leibman.net/statesenate2004