Another Republican running for Congress (Koster) stuck his foot in his mouth on rape.

[No Elephants]

You'd think they would have started to catch on by now?

Republican candidate calls aborting rapist's child "more violence on woman's body"

Gee, Sparky, if it's my body, how come guys like you get to decide what do with my body? And how can it be murder of a woman's body if the woman is alive after an abortion?

The race between Koster and DelBene for Washington state's newly drawn first congressional district seat, vacated by Democrat Jay Inslee when he resigned to run for governor, is considered a tossup.

Koster, a former dairy farmer with close affiliations with and support from the Tea Party movement, has lost two previous bids for the U.S. House of Representatives.Koster, Washington State.

Story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/01/us-usa-campaign-abortion-idUSBRE8A006A20121101

For the record, I am pro-life for me and pro-choice for every other woman.

Most of all, I am anti coat hanger and other unsafe illegal abortions that kill young girls and women. Also anti- availability of safe abortions only for those who can afford to travel outside the U.S.

BTW, I never saw anything about abortion in the Bible. Some extrapolate from a verse that speaks of God having numbered the hairs on our heads before we were born, but that assumes that God spoke in riddles. Usually, the Bible attributes a prohibition to God, it's a pretty clear prohibition.

Some claim that "Thou shalt not kill" covers it, but I disagree.

Until the religious right and the political right glommed on to each other to the mutual enrichment of pastors and politicians, there was always a distinction between a fetus and a person after being born alive, including in Biblical times.

Even in the U.S., when laws forbade it, doctors who performed abortions out of fear for the safety of the woman may have been arrested, tried, convicted and jailed as criminals, but no one got life in prison or the electric chair. Nor did the woman get tried as an accessory to murder. And we don't investigate miscarriages to rule out potential murder.

[Enthusiast]

1. You have a reasonable position on

abortion, No Elephants. If I might take the liberty to say so.

Republicans and other conservatives wouldn't know a reasonable position if it came up and bit them on the ass. If they actually wanted to reduce the number of abortions they would promote the use and availability of oral birth control.

They would also promote the availability of the "morning after" pill. That way "abortions" would take place when the "baby" was a mere blastocyst. That is not to say that one could not have a religious belief that life begins at conception. It's just that such a belief is not shared by a majority of the population. Why should those having a different religious perspective be subjected to the beliefs of a minority? The founding fathers were very clear that the citizenry should not be subjected to religious tyranny.

But the powers on the right want to use abortion as a political tool. The last thing they really want is to overturn Roe v Wade.

Everyone should read John Irving's Cider House Rules.

[No Elephants]

2. Maybe I overstated my position.

In truth, no one knows what they would do in any very tough situation until they have to stand in those shoes.

I don't think I would have an abortion under "ordinary circumstance," whatever the hell that means, but I honestly don't know how I feel about a morning after pill, or incest or rape, again just speaking as to myself.

So, when I say I am pro-life for myself, I am not taking the extreme position
+taken by some, even for myself.

On the other hand, I do view myself as "pro-life" for myself, rather than anti-abortion for myself, because I do oppose war and the death penalty as well.

And I am in favor of things that sustain life for people after they are born, certainly medicare for all and food, shelter and clothing. And no, that is not because I am now, or have ever been, on welfare. My father would not even collect unemployment insurance when he was laid off, though we sure could have used it! He did, however, take Social Security when the last factory he could find work at closed. He was over 70 by then. (He was over 50 when I was born, so I was still in college.)

I can find justification for most of my views in the Bible, yes, but I am not sure religion is the source of my beliefs. However they got to be my beliefs, though, they are certainly my core values.

Thing is, it really should not matter what I believe for myself. I believe in reproductive choice--and not having an abortion is a choice, too.

[Enthusiast]

3. Well said and understood. nt