The Republicans spend a lot of time billing themselves as a "party of of ideas," but they never seem to actually enunciate one.

Lacking any rational policy initiatives, Republicans instead give us fantasies (cutting taxes raises revenues), religious beliefs (human life begins at conception) and delusions (Obama was born in Kenya).

Since these are hard to defend in the "reality-based community, Republicans have been reduced to simple obstruction on all fronts -- earning the description of "The Party of No."

As the eight years of the Bush regime proved, Republicans are no longer interested in governance. They have become a cult only interested in maintaining ideological purity.

Well... human life does begin at conception. I am pro choice and a biologist but when a human is human is not religiously based. Sperm and ovum are haploid meaning that they have one set of chromosomes (24). A human being is diploid and has two sets one from fathers sperm and one from mothers egg making 48. This is the definition of a human, a complete set of genetic information that codes for a human and not a dog or a fly. Once you have these 48 chromosomes you are a human no way around it, and it is a living mass of cells, so it is alive. That equals human life to me. Now whether it is a good idea to allow abortions is another matter all together. One which I agree with you on.

indecently, this is where prolifers that are on the pill are in a stick situation. Because the pill prevents this "human life" from implanting in the uterus they are technically killing a human life!

An embryo or a fetus may be a human life, but its not a human being. With no central nervous system and no brain activity to speak of, there is no way such a clump of living human cells has any sense of self or any real form of consciousness.

So consciousness is the bench mark? People in comas aren't people?

Just so you know, I agree with you on abortion, but you definition of human becomes pretty arbitrary don't you think. How do you know when a person develops a sense of self? Who are you to decide? The only truly objective definition is when all the genetic information is in place an the embryo can only become human based on that information.

Also, do realize that if you use "sense of self" as a metric for human-ness then we could actually justify killing newborns and babies? Do you remember having a sense of self when you were 4 weeks old?

Hey Ohka, re: "Well... human life does begin at conception".

You are not alone in that belief.

"I am pro choice"

Me too.

Ohka, if you believe this, then how can you possibly be pro-choice? You support the killing of people? Really?

As the to-and-fro on the subject proves, abortion is a subject best left to the individual conscience to decide -- and not decided by government diktat as the Republicans / religious absolutists insist.

Oh Brit... I don't have to agree with an argument to make it! Reduction to the absurd was my goal there.

I am pro choice, very much so. I am comfortable with it, I don't need to make up arbitrary metrics of when a human is a human to ease my conscious.

Thanks HAP!

To be anti-abortion yet pro-choice is quite common among reasonable people.

I think "indepently viable" might be part of the definition. You have the same problem with end of life issues, but maybe we should be rethinking our views there as well.

Sure, I only wanted to illustrate that this is a tough one, which is why we will probably never really all agree... and that is probably a good thing.

True, I haven't met anyone that is truly pro abortion. On the other hand, it can be at times the right choice. Life is a messy affair.