A very well-written piece. One thing I've never understood: Why are anti-abortion people in America also often anti-contraception? Surely that's a contradiction. There's a lot of hypocrisy in their arguments, to put it mildly (eg also being pro-death penalty, and against funding for things like healthcare, housing, education, and so forth). I know it's a cliche to call them pro-birth rather than pro-life, but in this case, the cliche is a perfect description.

I know a Christian couple in the UK who have anti-abortion convictions, but their position is that whilst they would never advise anyone to get an abortion, it is ultimately the choice of whoever is pregnant. Incidentally, the couple in question have also adopted three children from mothers who decided to go through with their pregnancies rather than have abortions, so they actually puts their beliefs into action rather than angrily prattle from the comfort of their armchairs. They are lovely people, I should emphasise.

One more thing: As you probably know, as a Christian myself, I hail from an evangelical background (though I no longer call myself "evangelical"). My personal views on this subject are complicated though roughly in line with the couple mentioned above. However, in a previous church, a woman with cancer got pregnant but refused to have the cancer treatments that would have saved her life, because it would have killed the baby. By the time the baby was born, it was too late, and she died. A horrible tragedy.

Whose life is more important in such circumstances? Again, the choice was hers, but quite honestly, if I'd been her husband, I'd have been begging for her to have an abortion. A truly heartbreaking case.