A few thoughts on the whole abortion issue. While I personally object to it on moral grounds I believe it would also be socially irresponsible to ban the practice given what I know at the moment. To change my opinion in the mater I would really have to see firm demographics detailing race, age, income, marital status, etc. From what I have read thus far one could characterize the typical individual whom would op for an abortion as young or immature, typically poor, possibly uneducated, and always desperate. If we were to ban abortion clinics there are several possible outcomes these sets of factors would lead to in my mind. The first being abortions performed in less than desirable conditions by untrained individuals (and if you punish those who perform these, who is going to take up the added costs associated with girls that throw themselves down stairs, OD, or other self inflicted bodily harm?). The second a child born into a place in society where he would most likely grow up as another strain on our already broken welfare and judicial systems, if the mother didn’t have the presence of mind to use one of the safe haven laws (of which nearly all, if not all, states have but are generally not well known). Third, when a woman was independent the pregnancy could take her out of the viable work force in many of the low wage jobs and place her on the welfare system, which of course in general we wouldn’t want to see happen, especially with someone that could possibly advance to a productive individual that does not place a burden on the rest. While I would like to see a society where this is not an issue, I don’t believe we are anywhere near that point, for if we could ban abortion with a clean conscious then there would be no need to ban it at all. Yet another reasons government should not be involved with the personal choices of individuals.