These are my posted thoughts from my blog on this sad story..

This is a sad story written from a pro choice standpoint at Salon.com. You can hear the sadness and subliminal anger in this tale. I hope she does take advantage of post abortion counseling. Here is the summary...woman is single and 34 and a freelance writer who hasn't had much work lately, she has insurance but it has a high deductible.....she meets an old friend and has casual sex...no mention of birth control....oh and this part is important...has longed for children and is realizing her biological time clock is ticking. She describes how she is aunt, godmother etc. Now back to the story....she is on antibiotics for back pain and smokes and drinks(maybe too much, she says)...symptoms appear and the test result is positive.

She is pregnant and here she is vague but someone tells her she has probably done damage to the baby through what she has ingested. Eventually she confides in some people and receives a variety of advice. Casual friend (father...maybe?) drives up and offers to move in and live with her and raise baby. He doesn't believe in marriage. But he apparently is just throwing it out there as an option. She goes to clinic....talks to them...she is 5 weeks and 5 days...they prefer for the pregnancy to be a certain gestation for their ability to abort successfully. The abortion will cost her $450. Here is where some anger is displayed at both the cost and of course why isn't tax payer funding paying for this.....from her headline.

She lives in TX so listens to a prerecorded voice telling her what the fetal development is at this stage. She seems angry that it is a male voice. Appointment made...day of abortion, doesn't like pro life protesters/sidewalk counselors out there and has a comment to make about them. Then she describes that the procedure is scary and excruciating even with IV and gas mask on. They give her earphones because of the loud noise of the procedure. She describes the pain in recovery and after procedure she describes herself as feeling damaged, empty and scared...."partially dead." Weeks later she says she is still bleeding, cramping underweight, grappling with need for children and a partner to raise them with.
She is angry at Gov. Pawlenty of MN....why?...she remembers he announced that April was Abortion Recovery month.."what the hell does he know about that?" Hear the anger, hear the sadness. As you read, pray for this woman. Abortion Recovery is just what she needs.

I started to read the story, then I couldn't..I just couldn't. Too painful to read about a woman going through that to get RID OF the child inside her and here I sit, I would give ANYTHING to have a child inside me right now, and I've lost FOUR of my precious babies. Sorry..you can tell I'm 'emotional' today.

My thoughts: I question the validity of anything written by "anonymous".

Though, I do pray, if it is a valid story, that "anonymous" does find healing and redemption.

This woman's story is a sad commentary on the result of "feminism". Women are now reaping the whirlwind from the wind they sowed.

In following the feminist manifesto method of being set free, she unwittingly has become trapped and lost. Her post is filled with confusion, obfuscation, self-deceit, denial, and indicates a person tragically lost and for who one can only feel compassion. Way to go Gloria Steinem.

There is only one truth that sets men and women free and He is Jesus Christ. This truth is eternal and will never change no matter what ideology seeks to change or destroy it.

Hmm... I have to agree that this piece does not promote the pro-abort mentality well.

At the very least, it shows the physical/mental/psychological pain and suffering of post-abortive women and does not hide the TRUTH of what really happens...

So, where's PP and all those feminazi's after the women have made their "CHOICE" and the killing's done??

Wow, misdirected anger is right, Susie. This woman needs counseling, and fast. Very sad.

She will either seek forgiveness and for what she's done (which even went against her own desire to have a child) or she will become more angry and bitter with anything remotely associated with the pro-life movement or her experience. I bet she's already withdrawn from those friends who gave her the advice to take prenatal vitamins... Sounds kinda like she has distanced herself from the single "non-moms" too.

When people are fighting for a "right" to do something so inherently destructive, it's a clear sign that something is wrong with society.

Why does this woman think that not forcing people opposed to abortion to pay for it is "taking away women's rights"? Even if she believes abortion is a woman's right, did anyone outlaw or ban abortion? No.

Wow...this woman's thought processes are so incoherent and meandering. What she needed was someone to look her in the eye and say "snap out of it already!" She says she's always wanted children, yet when she's given the gift of a child, she find a hundred excuses for why she can't/shouldn't/doesn't want to have her child!

Her "solution" has left her in an emotional and mental heap, though she seems to have had the fortitude of a wet noodle from the beginning. Early pregnancy is hardly the agony she described, for goodness sake!

This is a perfect example of the selfish, short-sighted, warped reasoning that pro-aborts employ to justify killing their babies. This woman has no one to blame but herself. I grieve for the life she destroyed, and for her own empty life, which she has now emptied even further. It didn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way.

There is no way in the world I want my tax dollars paying for this...

Sorry, but at the end of all that remember the beginning. She is upset that federal funds will not pay for her abortion. (If you even believe that executive order will hold.) I dont want to pay for her to kill her child, end of story. Call me heartless.

This is indeed a strange story. It's hard to understand why a woman who has always wanted children would choose an abortion even though all the cards making motherhood viable were in place for her. The father was a good and respected friend of hers and he was completely willing to co-parent. She didn't want to be dependent on him though, so why not co-parent without living together? That could've been a viable option. Also, she said she was 34 and had struggled over the years with ovarian cysts. At this age and with the fertility issues she's already had (now coupled with an abortion), this may very well be the only child she will ever conceive.

I found this story raw, authentic, honest and tragic. It can be so hard to understand our own motivations and thought processes, let alone those of others. I believe she made an informed choice - she knew what she was doing - however, she was clearly confused and ambivalent when she made the choice - feeling rushed to have the procedure early knowing that abortion risks increase with gestation. Perhaps if she's had more time to consider, she might have chosen otherwise. She is already fraught with so much emotional pain, my concern is that post-traumatic stress disorder will develop over the years. Again, it's such a tragedy.

The closing of her article seemed out of sync with the rest of it; I failed to see any co-relation. If she hadn't had to pay the $450 out of pocket, how would that have made the whole thing any less physically and emotionally devastating for her? I think she was deflecting with this, perhaps needing something specific to point to instead of her own overwhelming confusion.

This poor woman is so lost. I wish I could just give her a hug. She's been brainwashed by society to believe that abortion is women's liberty but look how much she's shackled herself physically and emotionally by ending the life of her child.

She wrote about Gov. Tim Pawlenty getting involved with her abortion because he signed a proclamation stating April was Abortion Recovery Awareness month. How could he know anything about it. He may not personally but I was the one who Request Gov. Pawlenty to sign it and he did. I asked him to sign it so that woman, maybe her someday, will know their pain is real and there is hope and healing.

Side note...Just put up a new video on YouTube about abortion. Go to silentnomoremn valerie.

What a confused, sad woman. The truth is that no abortion testimonial ever comes across as anything other than sad and pathetic.

Even if you completely agree with abortion being a legal choice, it's still a cowardly way out of a situation. It's like celebrating cheating on an exam or something. Sure, you can do it and get away with it, but do you really feel good about yourself afterwards?

She wrote about Gov. Tim Pawlenty getting involved with her abortion because he signed a proclamation stating April was Abortion Recovery Awareness month. How could he know anything about it. He may not personally but I was the one who Request Gov. Pawlenty to sign it and he did. I asked him to sign it so that woman, maybe her someday, will know their pain is real and there is hope and healing.

Side note...Just put up a new video on YouTube about abortion. Go to youtube and search silentnomoremn valerie.

This story seems too contrived to be true. If it is, what a shame she has gotten herself into the mess she is in. Casual sex seems like a fun idea at the time, but WOW, not so much when a pregnancy is the result.

I'm praying for all women who have had abortions. So tragic.

"On the other hand I also note Anonymous described the normal symptoms of early pregnancy as extraordinarily difficult, too. Pro-aborts usually do. They must portray pregnancy in horribly dramatic terms to rationalize their abortions. But all that really means is they can't handle being real women."

I am prolife but I find the above comment offensive.

I'm currently in the 1st trimester of my third pregnancy and it's tough. With each pregnancy I've had to deal with 24/7 nausea for the first 3 months of pregnancy and it's miserable (physically). The third trimester (for me) is also difficult - fraught with pelvic pain, sciatic nerve pain, heartburn, fatigue, restless leg syndrome, and sleepless nights. It's really tough.

Granted, some women have easy pregnancies with no nausea and little physical pain, but many women, myself included, experience a lot of physical suffering during the entire 9 months; to say nothing of the childbirthing experience and recovery period.

So, why should prolifers act like pregnancy isn't physically taxing? It is. And when you're dealing with a crisis pregnancy, it's going to be even harder because you don't have the joy and excitement that goes along with a wanted pregnancy. Psychologically, it's much more difficult to endure physical suffering when you're emotionally devastated than it is when you're happy. Women experiencing unplanned pregnancy need a lot of support! And we need to be honest with them instead of brushing them off. They need our validation when they express their discomfort. The last thing they need is to be told that their physical suffering is "nothing" and that they're being sucks and aren't "real women" - that's just rude and insensitive! It really comes across as self-righteous too.

Please note, I have the utmost respect for Jill Stanek - I just found this particular comment really insensitive.

Bekah, I agree - also, women without kids shouldn't be told that only women with kids are "real women", though in this case I'm not sure if that's what Jill meant.

Janet: I'm a second-year law student, and one thing you learn in law school is that things that sound really contrived and improbable do happen. Of course, there's always the possibility that this is made up, but I wouldn't necessarily conclude that.

Annmarie: Thanks for asking Pawlenty. :) My mom knows two of his aunts.

I just added an update at the top of the post on a point I forgot to mention, which is: It seems to me the description of the preborn baby the abortion mill was forced to give by TX law was intended to invoke mental images of a little monster:

It was a man's prerecorded voice telling me that, "The lungs are beginning to form. Brain activity can be recorded. Eyes are present, but no eyelids yet. The heart is more developed and is beating. Early reflexes develop. The hands and feet have fingers and toes, but may still be webbed. The length is less than one quarter-inch."

Janet,

I'm going to give anonymous the benefit of the doubt, by virtue of the fact that the abortion was so recent. It's quite possible the meds and gasses she was on, and the veritable hormonal loops her body is adjusting to, not to mention the conflicting emotions, are playing a number on her.

So as whack as the testimony sounds, I'm in the "I believe" camp.

Janet: I'm a second-year law student, and one thing you learn in law school is that things that sound really contrived and improbable do happen. Of course, there's always the possibility that this is made up, but I wouldn't necessarily conclude that.

Posted by: Marauder at April 15, 2010 11:19 AM

You're right, this story certainly could be true. The fact that the author is "anonymous" is what makes me think it may not be. An author could have easily made up a name..a "pen name".. right?

So, so so sad. And the guy was "ready to make this work":

"Eventually, I called the baby's father. He drove to town from his home out of state. He was ready to move in with me, get a steady job, co-parent, be the best kind of friends that we are since, according to him, "marriage never works anyway." He's divorced. "Maybe this is the excuse I needed to settle down, stop living like a nomad," he said. It was not the response I'd predicted. But I didn't want to to be his "excuse" for a major life change. That wouldn't work for me."

This woman had opportunity after opportunity to choose life for her child, but she, in pride and hopelessness, allowed her first child to be tortured to death.

but let's not miss the point of her anger...at Obama for not having public monies available to her to abort her child that was a the result of casual sexual encounter....mad at the male voice on the phone giving her informed consent and mad at Pawlenty for declaring April Abortion Recovery month. Indifferent to the guy who got her pregnant but offered to co parent.

Here is the issue. Do not use my tax money to pay for your abortion period. And don't compare this to war where we are fighting an enemy. This child is in her rightful place and not attacking you despite your morning sickness. this child is behaving as she is intended to act....just growing and don't compare this to execution of a convicted criminal...this child has not committed a crime....there was no legal defense given...no trial by jury of peers...no appeal. Just a death sentence handed down. Death by dismemberment.

Bekah, you're right about the first trimester being hard. All through those first weeks I was sick as a dawg. Dozens of foods made me sick, including red meat, tomato sauce, and Hawaiian Punch. One thing that did make me feel less sick, oddly enough, was sauerkraut juice. I would put the actual sauerkraut aside, nuke the juice, and drink it down. I know that sounds sickening, but back then I thought it was delish! My daughter is now 21 and says she wants to have six kids -- I'm not trying to discourage her, but I don't think she knows what she's in for . . .

This woman is such a sad and typical example of misplaced anger. She is angry at the gov't, Tim Pawlenty, anybody except the parties who are actually responsible for her situation. She then decides to kill the one innocent involved. It is surreal.

The thing is thanks to cultural trends, many young women don't have the option to get married even if they want to. When I was young, I had three marriage proposals by the time I was 20. Not that I am so great, just that men had a different vision of life, different expectations. Now young people often don't even consider marriage and worst of all their parents don't pressure them to abstain unless they marry. Rather they urge their adult children to abstain from marriage rather than seek it. I find it creepy to want to deprive adult children of the healthy normal relationship of marriage. I hear my friends say they are ready for their kids to get out of the house, but in the same breath don't want them to marry. Just weird. It is like they don't want them to be happy. It is almost like they want them to be lonely and materialistic.

This woman's story is a sad commentary on the result of "feminism". Women are now reaping the whirlwind from the wind they sowed.

In following the feminist manifesto method of being set free, she unwittingly has become trapped and lost. Her post is filled with confusion, obfuscation, self-deceit, denial, and indicates a person tragically lost and for who one can only feel compassion. Way to go Gloria Steinem.

Posted by: Phil Schembri is HisMan at April 15, 2010 10:23 AM

I remember once asking my grandmother what if I followed her advice and it made me unhappy. She told me that I would just be looking at it the wrong way. That told me she wasn't interested in what was best for me but rather in validating her own choices and ideas. Folks like Gloria Steinem are like that. They have no compassion for the destruction of women's lives their ideas have precipitated.

Phillymiss,

Pregnancy is such an odd thing. My appetites and cravings have differed with each one and I am now pregnant with my 5th!

I read in several pregnancy magazines that your brain shrinks 3% during pregnancy. I have a theory as to why that is. Pregnancy can be very, very tough and exhausting so I figure God allows our brains to shrink so we won't remember all the details and pains of pregnancy.

During my 7th and 8th months, I can't imagine going through another pregnancy, but a couple days after my baby is born, I'm planning the next one. :)

Good luck to your daughter.

Oops, I meant to say, "so we won't remember all the details and pains of pregnancy, at least enough to go through it again." :)

Jill, I'm a fan and very thankful for all you do. I just have to say though that I think your comment about pro-aborts who complain about the beginning of pregnancies being difficult not being able to handle being real women was out of line and quite uncharitable. I have three kids and have easy pregnancies but I've seen two sisters to through five amazingly difficult pregnancies. They were in agony and found it quite difficult to manage. I'm sure if you think about it, you'll agree that your comment was a bit beneath people of faith and love and just untrue. That's my two cents. Let's hold ourselves to a higher standard!

In Christ,
Cristina

this is just like the damaging garbage I used to read in Glamour magazine. God help the women who don't have dedicated parents who care about their spiritual paths.

Once sex became "relieving oneself" same as urinating, or taking a dump, there appeared the problem of performing this bodily function with the assistance of a person held in low regard, as a utility or tool.
So the person with whom this person relieved herself, was not considered good enough to assist with raising a resultant child, though he was man enough to accept the responsibility.
So the woman who wanted children, perhaps in the same way that she wants some material possession, had her unborn child killed, and tossed as biohazardous waste.

And this woman, who has done nothing to bring about happiness, is very naturally denied this feeling.

Really confused as to how public funding of abortion would have made abortion less physically painful for her....

My daughter died at birth as a result of a fluke illness. At the time, I was temporarily angry at the workers at the grocery store next to my home... because they were on strike for the final month of my pregnancy and therefore didn't personally notice my belly or my loss and because "perhaps" the stress of their strike contributed to my body not being able to protect my daughter as well. Yeah, I was grieving and slightly insane. Sounds just like this mom: grieving and lashing out at anything even remotely connected to the death of her child.

Laurie: I'm so sorry about your daughter. You're right, people can blame all sorts of irrational things when they're grieving.

On the topic of this woman smoking and drinking: while this could have caused some major problems if she'd kept doing it during her pregnancy, I kind of doubt that there would have been any serious issues caused by it if she'd stopped smoking and drinking as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Same thing goes for the antibiotics. Lots of babies are conceived when their mothers aren't living the best of lives physically, and if their mothers immediately stop doing harmful things to their bodies the babies usually turn out fine.

Also, I believe it isn't until the fifth week that the embryo starts drawing nutrient directly from the mother, by which time this woman already knew she was pregnant and had stopped drinking. Her drinking prior to a missed period would have been during the time that the fertilized egg had not yet implanted and started drawing from her body. So, the baby would've been fine. If anything, the "drinking might've damaged the baby" was probably just grappling for an excuse/reason to have an abortion. She'd always wanted kids, so it was probably difficult for her to rationalize/explain why she chose abortion. :/

My employee was two months pregnant and smoking like a chimney while she debated whether she wanted to have another abortion or not. In truth she really DIDN'T want another abortion as the first one had turned her into a drunk to cope with her grief, but her family kept pressuring her.

So she smoked and smoked and smoked to cope with the stress of this enormous decision.

In the end she chose life for her daughter and that little girl turned out FINE despite her mother smoking for MONTHS.

this is just like the damaging garbage I used to read in Glamour magazine.

Lisa, most of these women's magazines are full of stupid and sometimes harmful crap. Cosmopolitan, which millions of women read and love, says its okay to have affairs with married men because a "good man is hard to find." Uh, no.

Heather, my daughter is still in college and I have some strange and radical beliefs -- I would like for her to be married BEFORE she has a baby.

I couldn't make myself finish readying. :(

my take… woman, aged 34, really wants kids "someday," has reason to doubt her fertility, no imminent marriage prospects. she has sex with an old lover, apparently without using contraception, and gets pregnant. she "can't afford" a baby because she's a free lance writer and implies bloggers are stealing her income. has she never heard of other jobs? people can write while doing other jobs, many great writers have done so. of course a baby would be in the way… but a baby is on the way and this is when adults do what has to be done to prepare to care for a new child. very few pregnancies occur at a "convenient" time, to people who can "afford" them. yet people manage and babies bring joy into our lives. no one with children can imagine life without them, the things they would have lost.

she finally calls the man who got her pregnant and he drives from another state to see her, wants to live with her, get a steady job, help raise the baby. he's willing to commit. he doesn't think marriage works, but many divorced people feel that way and it's at least possible he would have changed his mind, especially if she had insisted she wanted to be married for the baby's sake. we don't know how much marriage was discussed, if at all, beyond his comment that it never works. we know he wanted to help, as did her new mother friends who offered her prenatal vitamins.

but, no, she won't accept his offer. she is sure that abortion is the thing to do. her medical insurance won't pay for her abortion so she's angry that the government, meaning all of us who pay taxes, won't. hmm. if she had had the baby, i'll bet our tax dollars would have helped pay for her medical care. the father would have paid, too, and helped raise the baby.

what else? abortion really is awful and causes a lot of pain, and it's loud, though i don't know how she could hear the machine if they gave her gas. she has a lot of resentment of people who had nothing to do with her choice to abort, particularly those opposed to abortion. she's angry that Texas law requires her to hear a description of her baby at this stage of development. it's odd how some resent this. what other medical procedure is performed without a doctor explaining what the situation is and what the outcome will be? she finds that the workers at the abortion clinic are wonderfully kind -- why not, she's paying for it! -- $450 for a five minute "procedure" and some time in recovery, with "kindness" thrown in as part of the package.

she has to know, whether she's admitting it to herself yet or not,
that she's just killed her child, possibly the only child she'll ever conceive. no wonder she's bitter. but that bitterness should be aimed at the people who led her to believe that casual sex has no consequences and that abortion is an easy solution to an inconvenient pregnancy. those "kind" people from the clinic aren't there for her now and they won't be there all the times in the years to come when she remembers having her baby destroyed. the pro-abortion forces are the ones she should be angry with, not those of us who are pro-life, who have only told the truth: abortion kills a baby, abortion is painful for the woman, physically and emotionally, women would not choose abortion if they knew more about it. any woman who has lost a baby, as i have, could have told her that you don't just forget. ask a woman how old her lost child would be and she'll know, no matter how long ago it happened. she'll always know.

Yeah, I don't doubt she had those symptoms, and the stress surely didn't help.

The Planned Parenthood staffers are trained to pitch abortion as the "cure" for the "disease" of pregnancy.

We may not be able to be "pro-choice" and "pro-life" at the same time, but we can probably be more "pro-life" without being any less "pro-choice". We can be open, honest, and non-judgmental; we can allow for individual choice and promote safety, while simultaneously striving towards a society where doing the right thing is all that matters.
Those who are "pro-choice" must realize that abortion rights are protected by the U.S. government, protesters and moralizing politicians do not legally threaten a woman's right to choose, laws mandating informed decision-making are not to be disparaged, but praised, and an abortion is not a simple medical procedure, but an agonizing moral conundrum.
Those who are "pro-life" must acknowledge that a lack of access to safe facilities means back-alley, coat-hanger abortions, and no one wants that. If life truly begins at conception, each abortion counts. Those two realities mean that pro-lifers need to switch focus from trying to stop all abortions to trying to significantly reduce the overall number of abortions. The clear way to do this is through widespread use of multiple forms of birth control and telling kids the cold, hard truth about life and sex.

http://www.theinductive.com/blog/

Christopher Carr...then what do you do when the birth control fails, like it did for me?

Many women use birth control and end up in the clinics having an abortion when it fails.

If life begins at conception (which science says it does) then why am I trying to merely "reduce" the number of abortions? Each abortion is a tragedy. I want it to end...not merely "reduce".

T

Ending can still be your long term goal, but it makes sense to reduce, then end, by using two forms of birth control, and, if you do have a birth control fail, you can make a decision quickly whether or not to get a abortion in the embryonic stage. Very few people are arguing that life begins at conception; they argue that human life does. At certain stages of development, an embryo and in turn a fetus are no more complex than a grasshopper or a mouse. It is much better, if you are going to terminate a pregnancy, to terminate it at a stage where it is less "human" than when it is more "human" The point of my article is that people are going to have abortions no matter what, there are too many abortions going on, and the only way to reduce them and reduce our potential societal ethical crimes is to encourage fewer abortions. The policies I suggested in my article are easy ways that we can dramatically reduce the number of abortions in a short time period, if both sides weren't so stubborn.

Ugh...how can you be "less human". Is it possible to be "a little bit of human" or "more human"? That makes no sense. Since when is complexity equal to humanity?

I am more complex than my three year old. Does it then stand that I am somehow more human?

We certainly work to reduce abortions by providing women with the things they need to give their babies life. We work to educate and change people's heartviews...we do not reduce abortions by arming people with birth control that can and does frequently fail and then wish them luck fornicating. sorry. But doing that will and has seen an INCREASE in abortions, not a reduction.

Christopher, you've hit on exactly why prolifers won't compromise on hormonal contraceptives and early abortion. We believe that human life begins at conception, therefore, killing an embryo is just as immoral as killing a fetus.

The scientific truth is that a unique human being is created/comes into existence at the very moment of conception. At fertilization - when sperm and egg join together - there is a complete set of DNA in place, distinct from the mother. Eye color, hair color, gender, and intelligence are all determined at conception. This isn't a religious belief, it's a scientific fact.

A grasshopper will never be anything but a grasshopper. An embryo is a human being from the get-go. An embryo is to a fetus what a fetus is to an infant, what an infant is to a toddler, what a toddler is to a child, what a child is to a teen, and so on and so forth.

Consider: the sexual organs do not finish developing until puberty. The brain does not finish developing until late adolescence! If humanity/personhood is based on first being completely physically developed, than babies, toddlers, children, and teens are all subhuman compared to adults. Saying that an embryo is subhuman for the same reason (still developing) is just as ridiculous.

Do you honestly believe that preventing a single cell from growing is just as immoral as a partial-birth abortion?

Your understanding of DNA is flawed: DNA codes for RNA, which in turn codes for proteins, and there is a complete set of DNA is each one of our cells.

I am pro-life, and I am certainly not saying that adults are more human than infants, which are more human than fetuses, which are more human than embryos.

But you must acknowledge that despite our beliefs, there are people who think differently, and those people are currently allowed by law to get abortions freely. If they weren't, many of them would pursue dangerous abortions on the black market or attempt to force miscarriages. These are despicable and disgusting things.

If you believe that each life is precious, you must acknowledge that from a consequentialist standpoint, the sheer number of abortions can be significantly reduced with a small amount of compromise on policy, but no compromise whatsoever on values.

Hi Christopher :)

What does it matter if there's a complete set of DNA in every cell? Only the DNA in an embryo will develop into a full-term baby.

There is only one moment in time when a human being doesn't exist and then it does - and that is conception. You and I were both embryos at one time too. If someone had killed you when you were an embryo, Christopher, *you* would never come into existance again. You would be dead and gone. The next embryo conceived by your mother would be a different person. Each embryo is a new human individual.

You said: "Do you honestly believe that preventing a single cell from growing is just as immoral as a partial-birth abortion?"

Obviously the latter is more horrific for everyone involved. But if the baby killed in PBA were instead killed when he/she was an embryo, how is that any less immoral? It's the SAME HUMAN BEING in either case.

Prior to Roe, the number of back alley deaths were only around 300 a year. Today, in America alone, 1 million embryos and fetuses are killed each year. Do you honestly believe that it is better to sacrifice a million fetuses to save the lives of only 300 women? If you do, then you've just admitted that you believe adults are more human and more valuable than fetuses.

yeah, and I agree with you, but most people don't, which makes blindly advocating an end to all abortions a politically intractable stance.

Isn't it better to do what Joseph Schindler did and save as many as you can? And isn't the best way to do that to push for small legal changes at first and to encourage those who are having sex to use birth control, which many think is successful enough to warrant having premarital sex?

Ignoring political reality is only going to make the problem worse

What kind of "small legal changes" do you have in mind?

I extrapolate a bit in my articles here: http://www.theinductive.com/blog/2010/4/13/going-there-part-i.html and here: http://www.theinductive.com/blog/2010/4/16/going-there-part-ii.html but I think ending PBA is more than possible in many conditions, laws designed to inform people when they go to abortion clinics, and an end to any and all federal funding for abortions are good places to start. I'm considering writing a part III to my series at some point, so I'd more than appreciate any input on other politically feasible ways to reduce the annual number of abortions.

"The clear way to do this is through widespread use of multiple forms of birth control and telling kids the cold, hard truth about life and sex."

Ummm....isn't PP already doing this?

Yeah, and just because PP does it doesn't mean it's bad. Two forms of birth control used properly make there be a ridiculously small chance for accidental pregnancy.