Whatever happened to abortion being a procedure that was to be "Safe, Legal, and Rare"? Not long ago, even people who supported abortion claimed to also want to make the practice only one of necessity. With over 1 million abortions being performed each year, the rare part is out of the window. For the most part, "safe, legal, and rare" was another way for politicians to say "well, I am personally pro-life, but..." while then opposing every sensible limits on abortion that came before them.

Here, we will look at some of the common themes that pop up during abortion debates, and what pro-lifers typically believe about each one.

Parental Notification

Pro-life conservative favor parental notification when a child seeks to have an abortion. Few medical procedures can be performed on a thirteen-year old without a parent knowing about it, but abortion is one that pro-abortionists are adamant about. Does a parent have the right to influence their child's decision in such a situation? Does a parent have the right to know what is happening in their lives to provide better support in the future? Does a child have the mental capacity to make an informed decision about such matters? These are all questions regarding parental notification. We are supposed to believe (thanks Obamacare!) that a 26 year old still has to be on their parents insurance but that someone half that age is mature enough to make such a life-altering decision without their parents?

Informed Consent

Informed consent laws can be defined as those that require "your doctor to provide information about the benefits, risks and alternatives of any test, procedure or treatment...

before it is performed. It requires you to sign a document which states your doctor has provided that information." In dealing with abortion, conservatives favor strong laws that require providers to inform patients what exactly it is that is being aborted. Does the fetus have a heartbeat at the current stage of development? Eyes? Fingers? Genitals? Could it survive if it were to be delivered today? As part of this process, pro-lifers also support ultrasounds being performed and a sonogram provided prior to the procedure. Many myths surround the abortion process, and patients might not always be informed as to what exactly it is that is growing inside of them.

Abortions for Babies with Disabilities or other "Undesirable" Traits

Pro-life conservatives typically oppose all selective-trait abortions. Babies with Down's Syndrome or Dwarfism are often aborted, deemed too much of an inconvenience to live. But the reality remains that to believe in life is to believe in life, whether one believes that person is "perfect" or not. In other instances, abortions take place when the gender of the child is not what was wanted by the parents. In order to know this, the baby is typically well-developed to being at or near the stage of viability. While most people find sex-selection abortions wrong, how does that make it any different from aborting a child that "might" have a birth defect, but might not? And in the future and with advancements in genetic testing, would we find it acceptable to abort children if a test were to show they might one day get cancer, be gay, or have poor eyesight?

What about Abortions When the Mother's Life is in Danger?

Some pro-lifers oppose abortions in any and all cases. Once upon a time, even Democrats claimed to believe abortions should only be "safe, legal, and rare." That stance has effectively been tossed out of the window, and anything-goes-abortion now has a strong hold within the Democratic Party. And the "life in danger" argument is one that pro-abortion politicians and activists like to use to deflect attention away from the reality that a clear majority of abortions are abortions of convenience, not life.

Most pro-lifers support abortions in the pre-viability stage when a mother's life is truly in danger. While pro-abortionists try to frame this as a hypocritical stance, there can also be the recognition that, yes, it is still a life. At the same time, the "life in danger" argument is the default position of those who support abortion. It is almost always the first question raised in a debate: "Oh, so you think a woman should die rather than have an abortion?" they say. But the reality is that the clear majority of abortions are abortions of convenience, not life and death. In the eyes of pro-lifers, life begins at conception. Are there some circumstances where abortion may truly be necessary? Perhaps. But the chief concerns of pro-lifers today is trying to reduce the culture of abortion that exists today. A culture where abortion is treated as a back-up birth control procedure and a culture where the reality of what an abortion is really ending is often disguised and downplayed.