I am sick and tired of hearing the battle cry 'Women Have a Right to Choose' used to justify abortions.

I agree 100% - women do have the right to choose. They have the right to choose to use birth control, the right to choose to be sexually active and the right to choose to enter into a situation that could end up in a pregnancy.

Once that woman is pregnant, though, the choice has already been made. She chose, whether directly or indirectly, to become pregnant. She no longer has the choice to prevent the pregnancy and certainly doesn't have the choice to arbitrarily end it.

What the pro-choicer's call a 'right for a woman to do with her body what she pleases' does not actually exist. Does a woman have the right to sell her body? Not in most areas. Does she have the right to use illegal drugs? No. Even sodomy is outlawed in some areas.

The bottom line is that neither women nor men have a 'right' to do anything they choose with their bodies if it adversely affects others. Laws have been created to protect people from both themselves and others. These laws, by their very nature, take away our rights to do anything we please with ourselves.

If a pregnant woman is somehow injured to the degree that her unborn child dies the person responsible can, in many areas, be charged with murder. Murder is a charge reserved for those that take a human life against its will, inferring that the unborn child is a human life and does not want to die.

There is a fine but very bold line between murder and abortion. That line can be defined by three instances where abortion should be legal; rape, mortal danger to the mother and fatal deformity.

Rape - First and foremost, every day of a pregnancy that is the result of a rape is an inescapable reminder of a brutal physical, emotional and mental attack. No woman should have to undergo such horrible anguish. This in and of itself could lead the mother to understandably and perhaps involuntarily hate both her unborn child and herself more and more every day. Second, if the child were to be born, he or she would eventually find out his or her background. Despite everyone's efforts the child would inevitably find out he or she was conceived as a side effect of an inhuman criminal act. The child would have to live the rest of his or her life knowing he or she is only alive due to something that can only be described as hell on earth.

Mortal Danger to the Mother - In some circumstances, simply carrying a child could prove fatal for the mother. In other situations the physical stress of a full or near-full term could be fatal. In either situation abortion can certainly be justified. There are those, though, that would choose to give their own lives so that their child might live. I personally can understand this having lost a child myself. To those mothers and fathers I offer my deepest respect; to offer your life in place of your child's is perhaps the greatest gift a parent can give to a child.

Fatal Deformity - Some babies develop with birth defects and deformities so severe it can be clearly and easily seen that the child could not possibly survive outside the womb A perfect example is the condition where babies develop without a brain. There is inarguably no way possible for the child to survive. In these circumstances, to protect the parents' mental health and possible physical danger to the mother, abortion is certainly justified. One option that some parents in this situation choose is to carry the baby to term and then donate their child's organs and tissues. These parents as well have my admiration and deepest respect for their selfless acts and choices.

In addition to the three acceptable instances or reasons for abortion there are also three rules that must be followed.

First, Abortion should never be used as a form of birth control; to do so is to murder. Abortions should only be performed under the scope of the three acceptable reasons.

Second, Abortions should never be performed later than the first trimester, the point where many believe the child’s brain has developed enough to experience pain.

Third and finally, “Partial Birth” abortions should be immediately outlawed unless an immediate danger to the mother’s health develops and only if vaginal birth or a caesarian section is not medically viable alternatives.

Pro-Choicers need to realize that the choice is whether or not to have unprotected sex. Once that choice has been made the resulting consequences are just that – consequences, not more choices.

After all – what had happened if the Pro-Choicers’ mothers exercised their freedom of choice?