/// I ........keeping abortion 'legal' /// <----> /// I consider abortion 'murder' /// Considering murder is 'illegal' per the laws of the land, how do you rectify your stance(s) on abortion ?. It appears, based on your own words, you want 'murder' to 'remain legal.'
I want as few children in the womb to die as possible.
Statistics indicate that criminalization of abortion in the early 20th Century didn't reduce its incidence in the US. Clinics apparently operated with impunity in most places, and women found alternative means in the few jurisdictions that took enforcement seriously.
What good are man's laws if they have no effect on society's behaviour or on people's hearts and minds?
With the practice legalized, expectant mothers can at least approach ministers, parenting groups, and advocacy groups like "Save the Storks" without fear of legal repercussions. The more exposed to the light the pregnancy becomes, the more real the baby becomes to the mother, and the less likely she is to kill it. Another statistical reality.
As I say, I might be proved a damned fool for tolerating legality as time marches on. It's not without risks. Not only does legality bolster the Orwellian argument that abortion is "healthcare", it's now being used as a pretext for Western governments to suppress dissent to this argument. For example, France has outlawed websites that "deliberately mislead, intimidate and/or exert psychological or moral pressure to discourage recourse to abortion." There are similar pressures in other Western nations.
This thread highlights another risk: that abortion can just as easily be construed as a fundamental "opt out" right for the father as it can for the mother. After all, if there's nothing inherently morally wrong with abortion, its utility to spare one or both parents from a lifetime of responsibility is undeniable. It's inevitable that unwilling fathers would start demanding the same "opt out" rights as unwilling mothers. I wasn't aware this particular political movement is as far advanced as it is.
Hence perhaps time will prove me a fool for arguing the ends justify the means when it comes to legalization. Anyone who tells you the slippery slope isn't real or has a defined "bottom" is no scholar of human nature.