Do conservatives actually believe that millions of women have 3rd trimester abortions?

[sailorbeavis]

In my experience, yes, many of them do parrot back whatever the "right to life coalition" tells them. Those photos and graphic displays are simply to get media attention, and guess what -- it works! You're talking about the shock tactics, and that's what they want. They don't want a rational, honest, all-inclusive discussion of the issue. It is how the right wing of American politics has monopolized social discourse since the end of WWII.

For some in the religious community it really IS about principle. I know a pastor who opposes war, who opposes abortion, who opposes the death penalty, is pro-disarmament, anti-nuclear power, and also is a registered Democrat. He believes God put us on this earth to take care of it and to love each other, not kill each other and destroy it! Such a novel concept.

I am anti-abortion, but I can't side with the so-called "pro-life" arguments either, because the same right-wing philosophy that seeks to paint women as "lazy" with such a broad brush also has no problem painting minorities as lazy, or "inferior" somehow. It also totally glosses over the fact that it takes a man to make a baby too, and has no problem letting him off the hook for not keeping it in his pants. I grew up in a conservative household and not once did anybody say, "Beavis, now here's what happened in the Garden of Eden, and because of that, men can't ever make rational decisions again and women will always be sluts."

So I'm left with the position that "Yes, abortion is a really, really bad thing, but who is best left to make the choice about their lives and their bodies? Yeah, that's probably the woman and her family.