Originally posted by La Dolce Vita:
Frankly, I was waiting for plaw to expand on his comments made prior....I am surprised at his response and wonder if he made it in jest. 
Like Willy Cicci, I'll expand on my answer.
My response was, of course, in jest, and made to point out the ridiculousness of the extreme argument, whether for or against abortion.
Surely, the point of view that a 16 year old rape victim, for example, or even a 16 year old who becomes pregnant from consensual sex should be made to carry a child to term is indefensible.
Yeah, I know all about how the girl should suffer the consequences for her actions if the pregnancy resulted from consensual sex, but since the law doesn't regard a teenager as being wholly responsible for his or her actions I don't see why an unwanted pregnancy should be any different.
And what do we do with the unwed mother and her newborn? Let them go on welfare, I guess, so we can all pay for it.
To me, once a fetus is capable of living outside the womb, it has become a person. Prior to that, it is simply a fetus growing inside of a woman's body, not yet a person, and part of that woman's body. And that gives her the right to choose abortion or birth.
As far as the death penalty goes, murder is murder, whether sanctioned by the state or not. I understand the anti-abortion argument, and understand the pro-death penalty one as well, but anyone in favor of both on the grounds that abortion is murder is just plain hypocritical IMO.
And while I'm on the subject of hypocrites, how about all the Catholics who are anti-abortion, yet practice birth control? If you want to really go to the extreme, one could argue that preventing an egg from being fertilized is a denial of life in a manner of speaking.
And finally, I know I've said this before:
"Beware of the religious right" 
