Let's get real. Most of the contributors here are male and pregnancy is a condition of the female body. Any or all women reading this have a perfect right to tell us to STFU. A woman's uterus is her domain, we might have opinions but courts this side of rampant paternalism tell us that a woman's body is her own.
But as the American lawyer/philosopher, Ronald Dworkin pointed out, people who claim rights also have duties. A woman who becomes pregnant by accident and wants a termination has that right but has a duty to make sure it does not keep happening. There is evidence (BBC radio 4, July 2013) of a very few women having as many as 8 abortions. This is exceptional but implies an awful want of imagination, to put it mildly.
So that statement gives you a hint about my view on early abortions. A single early abortion will have a long-term emotional impact on a woman. Given the vast array of contraception available in many western nations there is little excuse for a request for second or subsequent terminations, IMO. But then a physician might say that a woman who repeatedly asks for terminations is probably living such a chaotic life that she is the least able to be a good mother. The doctor then faces a eugenic dilemma. You can see how things pan out.
My ethics come from my culture, much like yours. I have soaked up Judeo-Christian values as a child and have rejected some of them as an adult. But they lurk in my sub-conscious telling me that "abortion is a bad thing". My intellect tells me "Yes it is, but it is sometimes necessary".
I saw the immensely brave Michelle Knight, one of Castro's Cleveland captives, describe her fight back to normality after a lost decade of false imprisonment. I have absolutely no idea of her attitude about pregnancy or abortion but whatever it is I demand her right to choose what is best for her.
