On abortion, it depends on when you believe that life begins. If you believe that life begins at conception then you will be against abortion; if you believe that life begins when something is out of somebody else’s body then you will be for abortion. I have three alternative views on the subject.

One is that a person is pronounced dead when his heart stops beating; which means that he should be pronounced alive when the heart starts beating. This happens toward the end of second trimester.

Another is that law does not protect life; law protects human life, and life is human when it begins to look human. This happens, once again, toward the end of second trimester. The clump of cells that the embryo is in the first trimester and the fish that the embryo is in most of second trimester does not to me qualify as human life. Whereas in the third trimester the embryo is mostly formed, and it to me does qualify as human life.

Finally there is the metaphysical definition: when the soul enters the body.. In my experience that has not been at conception. When Melanie was pregnant with Lily, she had a dream about Lily entering her body. This did not happen at conception. It happened one or two months into the pregnancy.

In either case, evidence supports early abortions and opposes late-term abortions. And this is a compromise that I suggest at the political level.