Infanticide OK, Planned Parenthood rep says

God is surely giving our society up to its lusts and removing restraints upon our minds to do even more evil. What in the world is happening to people? I cannot even imagine somebody holding this position.

Both were commonly practiced in the ancient world, including the Roman Empire at the time of Christ. The idea that life has value that should be protected by the state - especially women, children, slaves and members of the lower castes and classes - is a recent innovation. Please read this article on the history of abortion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_abortion. It states that that the first historical record of abortions being performed was in Egypt in 1550 BC. It also states that in Assyria in 1075 BC, abortion was only illegal if it was done without the husband’s consent. And please recall that this is merely abortion. The history of simply abandoning unwanted children to the elements, wild beasts or hunger is much longer and more widespread.

Also, everyone knows that abortion is murder. Women, who feel the baby moving inside them and responding to external stimuli as well as responding to the emotions of the mother - and do so well before the third trimester I might add - most certainly know it. The fact that abortion is so widely practiced despite knowing that it is murder only proves that the only reason why there aren’t more murderers is the fear of getting caught and punished, not the conviction that it is evil or immoral. Murder would be very common if it weren’t a crime or if there was no effective government or criminal justice system and no system of reprisal by the family members of the murdered person. Again, we know this from tribal cultures with extremely high homicide rates, including one with a homicide rate of 54%.