Show me in the Old or New Testament an explicit, unequivocal statement forbidding abortion. You cannot.

Describe for me the mercy of a god who would consign the souls of aborted fetuses to Hell, because they have not accepted his son as their saviour. Don't waste my time.

Tell me at what week or month of pregnancy the soul enters the fetus. Prove it.

Absent any legally valid arguments along these lines the High Court ruled to view the fetus as a part of a woman's anatomy, over which she had control. The result was a huge liberation for women in a male-dominated society.

A recent study indicated the decline in crime may be due to fewer unwanted children in the US.

The abortion issue was foisted onto the scene by ultraconservatives who needed to galvanize the Christian Right into political action. The shadow figures who engineered this are not Christians themselves, and they regard the Christian Right as nothing more than voting fodder.

The equation: "abortion equals murder" has no sound scientific, legal or theological basis whatsoever. It is propaganda designed to put women back in their "place."