Yeah, I know what you mean about the consequences of lowering the drinking age in your country. Usually, laws, the imposition of laws, and the upholding of laws is solely dependant upon the country's current situation. What works in one country could be disastrous in another. For example, the legalization of (some) recreational narcotics in Holland works just fine, but if you tried that in other countries, drug abuse would -- as you say -- worsen manifold.

As for my own opinions on the legalization of abortion (which, up until now, I haven't yielded), they are simply this. I believe that the act of abortion is (exceptional circumstances notwithstanding) morally wrong. However, in situations such as this I believe it is up to the individual to excercise their morals rather than have them forced upon them. The reason being that legalized abortion, in my opinion, is a lesser of two evils when compared to a world of back alley abortion clinics and the furthering of illicit activities which breeds even more illicit activities. Usually in life making decisions is about choosing a lesser of two evils and almost never about choosing good versus evil, black versus white, etc.

The other point I'll raise -- and this is going to bring every Christian under the sun raising fists, bibles, pitchforks, murder threats, bricks, dungheaps, rotten eggs, rotten tomatoes, dead kittens, dirty looks, unsavoury comments and a milleu of other assortments thrown my way -- is that *gasp*, dare I say it, I do put the value of developed fetus, an infant, a child and an adult human being over a barely developed, month-old fetus. Is it a lifeform? Sure it is. So is a hookworm or a leech. So is a maggot or a tadpole. I'm not about to go destroying those lifeforms either. But if I had to choose. As horrid and vile as it may sound, as insulting and heartless as it may seem, if I absolutely had to put a dollar sign on the former and the latter, yes, I'd put a higher price on a developed human being. At the end of the day we can all rant and rave about the definition of what is considered life. Yes there is a heart beat upon conception and yadda yadda. That's all swell and fine, I'm not debating that. I'm saying if had to kill one at the expense of another, I'd sooner pull the trigger on a 2 week old fetus than a 30 year-old person (or a toddler or an 80-year old or an 8-month old fetus for that matter).

Life is precious and I'm not arguing that, but mother nature can be cruel and we are often put in a position where we must take another life. An octopus gives birth to tens of thousands of eggs so that only two may live; the rest are fodder for the remaining food chain. That's sad but that's also life.