Cut this column out of the newspaper or cut and paste it from online, because from here on out whenever somebody asks me about my views on abortion, I’ll refer them here. This way, I don’t have to waste my breath and they don’t have to waste theirs in a heated and pointless debate. I’ve discovered that in most debates and discussions on abortion, both sides walk away pissed off. These are my last words on abortion.

First of all, both federal and state governments should leave the laws and statutes on abortion as they are. The war against Roe v. Wade continues. We’ve seen a rise in the number of bills and laws in various state legislatures attempting to limit or outlaw abortions in the last couple of years. For many people, including lawmakers, banning abortion is more important than state and federal fiscal reform, more important that funding education and infrastructure, let alone supporting women’s rights. 

Furthermore, I also understand that women’s rights are not necessarily the central issue. The real question is: Does a fetus have rights?

And this question opens up a whole hosts of questions. Is a fetus alive? Viable? If so, then does life start at conception? Or sometime later? 

I don’t know. 

These questions shake the foundations of our understanding of what life is. These questions force us to deal with the great mystery of life and the greater mystery of death.

For these answers, some turn to science; others, religion; and still others, both. Science can give us some answers and so can the Bible, but many of these answers dance around the issue of abortion. Science can determine if a fetus is “viable” but has yet to discover the “soul.” The Bible has some interesting verses (like Exodus 22 and Numbers 5:11-29) that seem to confuse the issue. But can either science and religion provide us with definitive answers? 

I don’t know.

Thus, if both science and religion fail us, then all we have left is choice. 

Actually, I need to clarify that last statement. All that is left for the pregnant woman is choice. I am a man, I cannot get pregnant (though science can now make that happen, apparently). Quite frankly, after studying history and further contemplating the issue of abortion, I wonder why, as a man, I should have much of an opinion at all. I cannot make the decision to abort or not; only a pregnant woman can. It amazes me to watch men, especially lawmakers, proselytize what they think are the answers. 

The fact is pregnant women have been having abortions since the dawn of history. Another law won’t stop that. I lean toward pro-life, but I understand that I have neither the answers nor the uterus to have an abortion. 

Thus, let the pregnant woman make her choice and let us, as a society, be there to support her, no matter the outcome.