Abortion/termination?

[Mr. 16 gauge]

For me: My religious beliefs tell me that 1.) life begins at the point of conception & 2.) it is wrong to terminate such a life, unless it endangers the life of the mother. The only time I struggle with my beliefs is when I see a child with a life altering condition, such as Down's syndrome or spina bifida, or hypoplastic Left heart syndrome. I some of these cases, I wonder if it is indeed crueler to let these children suffer with said conditions throughout their life, than to terminate the pregnancy and prevent such suffering.

I once had this discussion with a veterinarian (my boss at the time) when I was in college....his take was it was cheaper to pay for an abortion than to have to support the kids throughout their lives (welfare, ect) and that the medical cost of some kids not aborted (i.e. crack babies) was astronomical. Having heard that, I have to wonder why he wasn't all for killing everyone off at age 70 to save money on social security, medicaid, ect.
IIRC, Roe v. Wade has been in effect now since the 60's; women 'gained' the right to have an abortion (pretty much on demand), .....so I have to wonder that in the past 40 years of 'legal' abortion, what have we 'lost'? Have we 'lost' the scientist with the brilliant mind who would discover the cure for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, ect? Or who might discover a break through in the treatment for AIDS? What about the individual who could lead this country out of it's current debt crisis? What about the individual who could find a way to ease the worlds food shortages? What about an individual with the entrepenureal genius to come up with a solution to the dependency of foriegn oil, and forge a new path for our energy use? Did we 'loose' the next Bach, Brahms, Girshwin, Picasso, or Hemingway?

Sad fact is.....we will never know