hi doma,
i agree this has been true. but the anglo saxon religious structures contain them fairly well.
i don't think these folks realise just how toxic their desire to remove people's decisions actually is. the desire for control over people with differing beliefs - especially ones that stir a passionate intensity - is what makes societies fill with hatred.
but take away the compulsion and there's nothing unreasonable about it. the choice of when life begins is pretty much what you wish it to be between conception and the ability to survive outside the womb.
for myself, i think the first trimester (or perhaps 10 or 12 weeks) is ample time to make a free choice; and the second trimester (stopping around 24 weeks/viability) is the time for things like protection of the mother, which also involves doctors in the decision (the mother making any decision about her own body, of course).
if a person doesn't wish to mother their child, adoption is a decent option. i don't think it is unreasonable to compel a person to carry a healthy foetus to term if they have failed to make their decision to terminate within a 2 1/2 to 3 month period.
there are two individuals with rights in play during the pregnancy. the question is, when do the foetus' rights begin? for me, the two main actors are travelling through a legal spectrum as the pregnancy develops.
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