Getting Soft

I must be getting soft in my old age because I'm not nearly as opposed to abortion as I was back in the 70s.  That doesn't mean I would vote for it if it came up on a ballot proposal again, I suppose it would depend on exactly what was being proposed.  Early in the pregnancy, the fetus is indeed just "a clump of cells", but at some point it starts to grow arms and legs and look more like a real baby.  I seem to remember that, in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that a fetus could be aborted if it was too young to survive its premature birth.  Since then they have been saving earlier and earlier preemies, but I don't know where the cut off point would be today, or if they are even still using the same standard.  Last I heard, people were arguing about "partial birth abortion", which is where they crush the baby's head as soon as it pokes out.  Back in the 70s, there was talk about a "morning after pill", but I don't know if they really had it then or if they were just talking about it.  I seem to remember that they were still arguing about it a few years ago, so maybe it never did actually become available.  I suppose I should become more informed about this issue if we're going to discuss it intelligently.

I did look this up just now because I knew that Michigan abolished its death penalty back in the 19th Century, but I didn't remember the date:

The death penalty has been constitutionally banned in Michigan since 1963. Famous cases ... Treason remained a crime punishable by the death penalty in Michigan despite the 1847 abolition, but no one was ever executed under that law. In 1962 a constitutional convention passed a proposal to abolish the death penalty for all crimes in Michigan by a 108 to 3 vote.

Michigan | Death Penalty Information Center

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/michigan-0

I don't remember how long I lived in Michigan before I found out that we didn't have a death penalty, but it was about that time that I stopped being in favor of one.  I might feel differently if Michigan had a death penalty and someone was trying to abolish it but, since we don't have one and it doesn't seem to be a problem, we must not need one.  I have always believed that, when there is no need to pass a law, there is a need not to pass a law.  Actually, I think the original quote was: "When there is no need to change, there is a need not to change."  - source forgotten.  I think the death penalty is on its way out anyway.  I read somewhere that a person condemned to death in this country is likely to die of natural causes before he is eventually executed.