Gavin, you call my opinion that laws should be based on facts ephemeral, but I view it exactly the opposite. Arbitrarily deciding to impose a law because of something that "might" be true, especially when that "might" is based on heavily religious opinion, is an ephemeral means of secular, national legislation.
Should we make contraceptives illegal because they might be killing half-souls? Should we make it actually illegal to take the lord's name in vain (just in case those people are endangering their souls)? Etc.
Further, your argument that we "might" be committing murder is a little weak. Should we arrest egg and sperm donors for selling half-children? Should we arrest masturbators for committing assault on pre-conceiveds? Should we arrest anyone who eats scrambled eggs for animal abuse? Why not?They "might" be future lives.
And again, this is all moot. The real point is that you currently have the right to waffle all you like about whether it is right or wrong. You have the freedom to choose to support an abortion or not. The government can't tell you whether life really begins at conception. And therefore, they shouldn't tell you that they've decided to make that decision for you.
Again, you are right that personal belief does influence our laws. But there are two caveats to that: first, personal belief is rarely the only, or even the majority, reason for a particular law to be passed. Laws are usually passed more for political reasons, for monetary reasons, for compromise reasons, and because they are actually needed to address some real need. Second, just because it happens doesn't mean that that is what is best or right.
Are you saying that just because some lawmakers CAN make laws for no other reason than personal belief, and just because some of them do so, that that is a good thing? So if the majority of lawmakers believed that Maxim is obscene, I guess it is okay to make it illegal to own one? What if they believe that owning a Maxim contributes to sexual frustration in teens that then contributes to teenage sex, teen pregnancies (and thus abortions), and date rapes?
Even if there are no statistics to support that belief, heck, it should be okay for them to just decide to make Maxim illegal, right? They are protecting everyone's teenage daughters, after all.
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