Stefanie wrote:
There are also those on the left who resent science when it's inconvenient for them (e.g., denying that human life begins at conception).

Do you have a reference for a widespread argument among the left that there is some resentment of or disagreement with the scientific conclusion that human life begins at conception? I don't actually think that such a disagreement or resentment exists, or in any event I've never come into contact with it, but I'm open to being persuaded otherwise if you have a reference.

My understanding is that the fulcrum of the abortion argument is not whether or not the fetus is alive, but whether or not the fetus deserves the same sort of legal protections that an infant has, particularly in late trimester cases where there is a health risk to the mother, and in early trimester cases at all, given the balance of social costs associated with aborting early pregnancies versus the social costs associated with banning those abortions. There is obviously room for debate about that question.

However, the left also argues (correctly I think) that the overall combination of conservative opposition to sexual education, opposition to the availability of contraceptives, opposition to abortion, and opposition to government programs for unwed mothers amounts to a situation which inevitably puts people in hard circumstances. There are many different ways to reduce the frequency of abortion with the obvious goal of eliminating it entirely. This sort of "tough shit" approach does not constructively pursue that goal and leaves all sorts of problems in its wake that all of us have to live with.

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