(Not that it really matters what the topic of the post is about, since the comments are likely to be about Israel, but hey.)

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the GOP race, you know that by far the biggest issue to come out of the recent debate was Giuliani’s squishiness on abortion. That issue has only snowballed with the revelation that he donated to Planned Parenthood several times during the 90s. And so on and so forth.

I’ve just been thinking a little about Giuliani and his views on abortion. His whole shtick has been “I hate abortion, but I think it’s not my place to make that decision.” I think the whole “personally pro-life, but legally pro-choice” is a pretty common pro-choice position (I was once that way myself, back in high school). But it really isn’t one that holds water. Because the question becomes (and this is what I asked myself near the end of high school, when I became pro-life) why do I “hate” it? Most people who do - myself included - have an aversion to it because we believe that it is tantamount to murder - that a fetus is a human being and alive from the moment of conception. Otherwise, there’s no real reason to be opposed to abortion. And the question then becomes, well, believing that, can I really say that I think that’s a moral decision each person has to make? The answer I came to was no, because it’s not just a personal moral decision - it’s one that affects two people, one of whom is not a party to the decision. No matter how “live and let live” you may be on moral issues, I think it’s a little difficult to take that view on abortion.

So, obviously, from that, as I said before, if you don’t believe a fetus to be a living human being, there really is no case against abortion. I thought about this for a while, during a review session when I should have been learning poli sci, and I came to the conclusion that Giuliani’s “I hate abortion personally” thing could make sense. I guess it’s still possible to hate abortion, even if you don’t believe a fetus to be alive, if you are the type of person who gets very deeply upset about people not taking responsibility for their actions. But I dunno…even if that is the case, yeah, I guess Giuliani’s position would be coherent morally…but that’s sort of a jerk reason to hate abortion.

Anyway, all that reasoning comes to naught, because it turns out today that Giuliani believes abortion to be morally wrong.

I can respect a lot of pro-choicers who just don’t believe that a fetus is alive. I think they’re wrong on their premises, but given that premise they’re basing their reasoning on, they’re coming to absolutely the correct conclusion.

On the other hand, to actually believe that abortion is the taking of a human life but to still say you think it should be legal is completely incoherent. Giuliani is digging himself into a very, very deep hole here.