What's wrong with the abortion debate?

Science tells us unequivocally that as soon as the first embryonic cell division takes place, we have a human life - separate and distinct from the mother. This is not a religious issue - it is one of biological scientific fact. Any biologist in the world can tell you that a mammal’s life begins when the sperm from the father unites with the egg from the mother.  This fact is very inconvenient for those who want to treat embryonic and fetal human beings as property. The real argument in the abortion debate is whether or not this human being is a "person," with all the legal rights and protections of  "personhood".

Those who traffic in human tissue argue that he or she is not. This is the same argument used in the Dred Scott decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States declared that black Americans, though human, are not "persons" under the law. As long as "personhood" is denied to human beings in their embryonic and fetal stages, the holocaust of abortion will continue.

You are, of course, free to believe anything that you want. But you will not convince me that there is a distinction regarding personhood between an 8 hour old fetus and a 30 week old one.

But the real problem is much bigger even than the many fallacious arguments being put forth by the progressive left. My conservative friends are mostly expressing outrage, both moral and religious, but this has little effect on the actual dynamic of what is happening in society. It certainly has no effect on the progressive liberal left.

We could have new legislation tomorrow that makes it 100% illegal for a woman to have an abortion, and yet the issue would still be far from solved. The challenge is to deal with the societal beliefs that allow and even encourage young people to have sex without worrying about the consequences, the socio-economic ills that cause so many babies to be born out of wedlock,  because today the woman can easily get an abortion, paid for by Obamacare. The challenge is to educate young people to be willing to take responsibility. And the challenge is to provide a system where not only can a developing human being be safely brought to term, and the family unit be supported, but if the mother and father are unable or unwilling to keep the baby, we will have structures and programs in place that will enable that child to be adopted, to grow up in a loving and nurturing environment, and to become a productive human being.

So we can rant on with the outrage over baby killers and other abortion atrocities. We can talk about how abortion is morally wrong and reprehensible. And I'll agree. But until we start actually tackling these real issues, none of this is going to make much difference at all. If anything, it will simply make the left's eyes glaze over.