Nobody believes abortion is murder

[Brayton.l]

I'm just going to leave this here, because I don't think any discussion about abortion should be without it.

http://atheistforums.org/thread-6260.html

Abortion Law: Mother Denied Abortion, Then Had To Watch Baby Die

With incredible pain and suffering....fucking bloody xtians

These are the same people who fought in Kansas, (I believe) to force families who wanted to remove feeding tubes/ life support and ease a loved ones suffering and allow them to die with dignity, to remove them and "Let god decide" while they starved to death, because that would be "gods will" then did an about face and lobbied congress to intervene when Terry Schiavo's husband tried to do just that.

And they have the audacity to try to preach "morality" to us heathens.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

---

This is a recent post of mine on my FB page.
Before anyone starts flaming me, please read it and consider how I came to this conclusion.

And let me add that, of course there are many instances where I would say "yes, an abortion at this stage is the only choice". I have common sense, so lets not go there.

First, let me say this up front. I am pro-choice. "I believe abortions should be safe, legal, and rare." (credit, Bill Clinton) A woman has the right to choose. She knows her body better than any legislator.

As many of you know, I am an Anti-theist. I actively believe there is no god. Of any kind. I consider myself a Secular Humanist.

This being said, I am now coming out against abortions after the first trimester of pregnancy.

Obviously, my stance comes not from any religious and or spiritual place.
It comes from my gut. I think of it as a humanist idea. A SECULAR Humanist idea.
It originates from deep inside me. It all comes down to 2 little words. Two words. Two powerful words that trump all others.
Two words that I also think of when I see industrialized farming. Slaughter houses, vivisection, etc. Two little words that personify every degradation of humanity, every child that dies from hunger or curable diseases in countries that do not have access to life saving drugs. It's the idea that Mother Teresa never grasped. (Mother Teresa lived to watch the weak and sick die horribly and painfully, offering them little or no comfort. Consider your bubble burst on that illusion)

Those words are indivisible in my mind. Like cause and effect, I cant grasp one without feeling the other. I hope that they will always guide my decisions.

They are Suffering and Empathy.

When does a human embryo become capable of suffering?
How can I imagine a partial birth abortion without feeling empathy?
I cannot. All of my being cries out against it. Suffering is suffering.
I cannot abide the cognitive dissonance that must be maintained if I say that abortions are without question, and at anytime during the pregnancy, a choice of the woman.

Again, the question that I must face. When does a human embryo become capable of suffering?
I really don't know the exact answer to this question, but I prefer to err on the side of sooner rather than later.

I don't see myself wavering on this. Perhaps I have friends here whom have had to make this choice. If you know me, than you already know that I would not dream of judging you. But how do I say that I am against the suffering of animals, or children starving, of having empathy for my fellow man, and remain silent on this issue?

I will let my conscience guide me.