The Pro-Life and Pro-Choice camps have made it fatally clear that they will not be swayed.  Try to open a debate between them, and you face the kind of selective deafness and audio autopilot that have become the hallmarks of seemingly unbridgeable idealistic gaps.  Both sides are quick to assure everyone that there is no common ground, to the extent that the search for commonality becomes proof that you no longer “believe” or “belong” to either group.

Fortunately, there are individuals on both sides who have recognized the terrible futility that the fight represents when it reaches this point.  Nothing is beyond change, however… sometimes people just haven’t gone back far enough.

Begin with all the small children already in our care.  Could we agree that they should never be molested—by strangers or family members?  Yes?  Perfect… what if we focused our energy on all the things that might help us offer them that protection?  Preventing a lifetime of molestation translates into another individual who never has to make the decision whether or not to abort the product of incest or rape.

Can we agree that teens are not yet developed enough—mentally or emotionally—to be strong, effective parents?  Good… that gives us the opportunity to pour our efforts into whatever types of education and trusting, supportive parent/child relationships give our teens the best skills for making choices that don’t lead them to the impossible situation that surrounds any abortion.

This kind of pre-emption does not interfere with an individual’s pro-choice or pro-life stance, but it might provide an alternative for the zealot who feels they must take one life to preserve another.  There are thousands of abortions for those people to prevent, no matter what future legislation does or does not make legal—the children just happen to have already been born.  Don’t they deserve the same level of dedication and passion being thrown around in the name of the unborn?