Right, "closing" the loop: Closing the loop on abortion is like closing the fridge door in Oprah's kitchen - the thing is being opened back up damn quick.

Anyway, Radley's slavery point is actually a good one because there are many in the abortion-rights world who argue that denying a person a right to an abortion is akin to slavery - one makes the mother a slave to the life within her (and heaven forbid the mother had no say in becoming pregnant).

I reject the notion that abortion-rights people minimize the importance of life or equate a fetus with a useless body part. It's just that those who want to preserve the right to terminate (or kill, slaughter or destroy) an unborn life place the life and freedom of the mother over that of the fetus - meaning the fetus belongs to the mother and, possibly, the father. Pro-choice people see no role for the government in this arena. We view it as an intensely personal decision. One makes one's own peace with her or her god, morals and situation. I can't tell you (nor can anyone else) what the fetus is thinking or feeling (if at all), and as such, the argument about the fetus' rights are illusory, or wholly philosophical at best.

Anyway, I don't buy into the argument that men don't have a place at the table in the abortion world for the reasons Radley mentioned and for the "mere" fact that men are creating the life in the first place. But in the end, I do acknowledge (how grand of me!) that it's the woman's body and the "mere" act of childbirth is not without its own risks. No father, or government, should be able to compel that woman to take on those risks unwillingly - leaving aside for the moment of what the plan is for the baby.

Last, I also don't understand, nor agree with, those who would celebrate abortions. This whole menopausal nostalgia is nonsense, and to be fair, is probably just part of the fringe that accompanies any march (anyone can print up t-shirts or set up a little table). These freaks should not detract from the central message of freedom to choose - that is where the debate lies.