Fanatics have managed to frame the abortion debate
so it feels the only option is choosing which side to take.
The result? Suffering, death, and a cultural divide
with everyone feeling pressured to take a side.
When self-righteousness and hate have sway,
the truth, it seems, just gets in the way.
The irony is both extremes are wrong,
it’s the middle way that’s been right all along.
But before we can hope to be reconciled,
we must first agree on what makes a child.
While a fetus may very well be on the brink,
it’s not a human child until it can think.
It’s thought alone that gives us personhood,
without which a body is no more than wood.
And though no one knows exactly when,
experts believe consciousness doesn’t begin
until at least after week 24,
so abortions is quite safe anytime before.
After that, though, they should be illegal
except when the mother’s life is in peril.
If this was the law, nearly all pregnant women
would have ample time to make an informed decision,
and the result would be that nearly all children
would be born into families that love them.
That’s what we should all be striving for,
and that’s how we end this culture war.