Some would say that a woman has the choice of when to have a baby. I agree, however, the time to exercise that choice is before conception and not after. Afterwards, it is the baby's choice to live that is being negated rather than the mother's choice not to have the baby being exacted. She does not have the choice to withhold life from the child within her simply because it is easier. A car buyer doesn't decide whether or not he needs a car after he has bought it; so too a woman or couple should not decide they do not want a baby after it has been conceived.

Others might say that no one has the right to regulate what a woman can or cannot do with her body. A woman or man could not rob a bank and then claim that he or she shouldn't be punished because they have the choice of what to do with their body. Neither would a person avoid punishment for doing drugs under the argument that it is his body and his choice. So it can not be said that the government can not interfere with a woman's choice to have an abortion.

Admittedly, abortion could be a reasonable solution for a rape or incest victim. But according to a survey by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research division of Planned Parenthood, of 1,900 women only 1 per cent were victims of rape or incest. So clearly the issue of abortion in this case is a moot one since the vast majority of abortions have nothing to do with rape or incest.

It is true that in Roe v. Wad, the supreme court ruled that abortions could not be stopped before the first three months of pregnancy. However, since the role the judicial system plays in our government is to interpret existing laws ­ of which none concern abortion- it is clear that the supreme court has no authority in this matter. The issue should then be voted on through the legislative system.

Furthermore, due to continuous advances in medical science, it may one day be possible to determine the habits, skin tone, eye and hair color, etc. of a baby before it is born. In which case a mother could then decide to abort it based upon these characteristics. This borders dangerously close to discrimination and eugenics ­ an idea made popular by Hitler ­ since it eliminates someone's freedoms based on something they can not control.

Indeed, with the rate of suicides, divorces, rapes, and murders, we can hardly afford to allow this lack of commitment and responsibility to slip by unchallenged. If a couple can't be held responsible for their actions by the simple and natural act of having a child, what is going to hold people responsible when they commit any other crime? Couples should not be allowed to shirk their commitment to themselves and to the unborn child by having an abortion. If this trend of eliminating the consequences of our actions when we don't like them is allowed to continue, it could lead to chaos.

Also, once abortion has been accepted, what comes next? Euthanasia, as sick as it may seem, is already knocking on our door with people like Jack Kevorkian in Michigan already supporting it. And infanticide, the killing of infants due to defects or abnormalities, may be only years away. Abortion is a progression we can not afford, leading to the most hideous and heinous crimes imaginable.

Abortion also leads to a degradation of our health care system. Once a doctor has performed an abortion of a child, in essence killed a child for seemingly no reason, what is going to keep him from, consciously or unconsciously, not giving his very best to keep his next patient alive? How can a doctor that is truly committed to saving human lives turn around and participate in the death of a defenseless baby?

Most important of all, as a result of abortion the sanctity of life has been devalued. Kids fifty years ago played with squirt guns, but now they carry real guns and kill at the slightest offense. How could it be otherwise if the parents who conceived and raised them considered killing them? We claim to be shocked by the increasing crime rate and number of murders every year and yet we hold so little value for the gift with which we are endowed but that we withhold from others ­ simply for convenience sake. Clearly then, abortion is a choice, but a choice which lowers the sanctity of life, while adding to the decline of responsibility and morality already so prominent in our society. How can we allow this abuse of life in its simplest form? The answer is we CAN NOT! We must instill within ourselves and our children a sense of value and accountability for our actions as well as an absolute respect for the life, which is evident within us, no matter what the circumstances may be.

If you want to email Alan you may do so through the Mililani Baptist Youth Ministry office: mysc@pixi.com