The best centrist party, part 2; Abortion

Some new or existing political parties are unsure of whether they wish to wade into "social/religious" issues such as adopting a position on the legality of abortion. Some political parties and probably most religious organizations openly advocate social issues such as making abortion illegal. Social issues such as abortion are therefore current, contested and important political issues for all Americans. The Republican party is perfectly clear. They oppose abortion and will make it illegal. Under the circumstances, the Centrist Party has no choice but to opine on the issue because it is contested now and political policy can be affected now. The final opinion comes from a pragmatic point of view based on the party's stated principles.

Shah Joy province, Afghanistan

February 2012

Salient points and counterpoints are summarized below.

Point	Counterpoint
According to infallible sacred texts such as the Bible, it is against God’s word to kill a human fetus or baby and therefore it is both immoral and unconstitutional in view of the clear teachings of those texts	Abortion can be constitutional because it is not expressly prohibited; The U.S. constitution is the source of U.S. legal authority; The Bible is a source of personal spiritual belief, not law
Every human life is precious and therefore all reasonable measures must be taken to protect those lives	No counterpoint (the point is accepted)
Human life begins at conception because that is where sacred texts define it to be regardless of other sources such as the U.S. constitution	The constitution as currently defined by the Roe v. Wade decision holds that human life arises when the fetus develops into a baby; Sacred texts are irrelevant
A fertilized human egg, even before implantation, is a human being with full rights of an adult	A human being comes legally into existence only when the baby can survive on its own outside the womb
I don’t like abortion; Abortion is bad	I do like abortion; Abortion is good
All/most/some women regret having an abortion	Most women do not regret having an abortion
Having an abortion is not a personal freedom because the choice to have an abortion is illusory	Having an abortion is a personal freedom because having an abortion is real
Making abortion illegal will force at least some women and/or their partners to have a child against their will; What God allegedly wants is irrelevant	That isn’t relevant because what God wants is what counts; Making abortion illegal forces no one do anything they don’t really want to do because every pregnant woman and the father wants every pregnancy to end with a healthy baby
Jesus opposed abortion	Jesus supported abortion because at least 15-20% of all human conceptions end in spontaneous abortion (miscarriage)
Human life begins at conception and thus cannot be aborted at any time	Human life does not begin at conception - human life begins where the Roe v. Wade decision said it begins; A human fetus is not a sentient being - it is a fetus and thus can be legally aborted
The human soul begins at conception and thus abortion kills or harms a human soul, which begins at the instant an egg is fertilized in vivo or ex vivo	There is no such thing as a human soul because none has ever been proven to science in all of human history
The Bible is the supreme source of authority on this issue	The U.S. constitution is the supreme source of authority on this issue
The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion was unconstitutional judicial activism because the constitution clearly bans abortion on several grounds	The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion was constitutional strict constructionism because the constitution is silent on abortion and favors personal freedom
Women who get pregnant and then want an abortion made a bad decision and should be forced to live with the consequences of their bad decision; Otherwise it encourages personal irresponsibility by making the mother live with the consequences of her bad decision for a long time	Women who get pregnant and then want an abortion made a bad decision and should be allowed maximum reasonable freedom to deal with consequences; Otherwise it encourages personal irresponsibility by forcing taxpayers to pay the social cost of the mother’s bad decision for a long time
Individual states can regulate the legality of late term abortions	This is a federal matter and the states are pre-empted

F-15E at Baghram, Afghanistan

January 2012

In view of the foregoing points and counterpoints, all of which have been given full, fair and respectful consideration, the Centrist Party advocates keeping abortion law is it now is under the 1973 Roe v. Wade supreme court decision, where states can decide what later term abortions, if any, are legal. 

One consideration in an open minded, analytical decision is that since the 1973 Roe decision is the law, it has persuasive, constitutional advantages for personal freedom that society can reasonably accomodate: (a) It does forces no one to have an abortion against their will, i.e., there is absolutely no limit on the practice of any religious belief because current law forces absolutely no one to have an abortion against their will and (b) it increases the personal freedom of every American without any damage to personal freedom, American society, our economy or the enviroment.

Kandahar province, Afghanistan

January 2012

Unless other arguments (points or counterpoints) supporting (i) the opposing side or (ii) a different side of the issue are found, support for abortion is official policy. As always, that serves the public interest before any special interest or ideology.