Abortion: Religion vs. Politics

For my first entry on this new blog, I figured I would start with an issue that is both making headlines in the news and is a timeless issue that always seems to get zealots (on both sides) riling. Many of you have at least breezed by headlines that Dr. Tiller, infamous 3rd trimester abortion provider, was murdered this past week by a pro-lifer (http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090602/us_time/08599190212000). I'm sure I don't have to spell out the irony there, but is there ever justification for violent religious fundamentalism? I haven't been able to come up with an instance where it is, but I will leave this one open for everyone to debate.

Personally, I am religiously pro-life and politically pro-choice. I haven't encountered many who are able to identify with this stance (usually it's one or the other), but let me explain. My pro-life stance is a choice that I have made for my own life, and I don't hold anyone else to this standard. Religiously (and scientifically), I believe that a fetus is a human being, and that I would be wrong to end a child's life. Yes, the all-too necessary disclaimer: I would accept an abortion in cases of rape or if my own life was put in jeopardy, but statistics show that only 1 percent of all abortions in the U.S. are a result of rape and only 6 percent for the mother's health.

My pro-choice stance stems to everyone else and is twofold. First, I (and the government) have no right to impose my morals on anyone else. Every woman has agency. Second, abortions are already dangerous, both physically and psychologically. Banning them will not stop them; they will only become more dangerous, being performed without proper medical care and placing the woman's life in more danger. From a religious perspective, if a woman were to die during an unsafe abortion, she would never have the opportunity to improve her life and make amends for her actions.

So, what do you think? Can religious and political views on abortion coincide? Where do you stand?