Life
The most significant point that was missed in this argument is that what we are trying to combat is the discretionary, voluntary abortions of otherwise viable babies in healthy mothers who simply don’t want the child, the inconvenience, the "burden," or as our illustrious President would put it, the "punishment" of having a baby.stark2010.blog.com
The issue of where life begins should not be a controversial issue at all. Life begins at conception. From that point on it continues to grow and does not stop unless stopped by an outside influence or by God's choice.
That having been said, if we are to be consistent in following a strict interpretation of the Constitution, the "right" to have an abortion is not an issue that should be decided at the federal level because it does not fall within those specific powers granted to the federal government.
It is my belief that, as a matter of public policy, no government should advocate or permit one life to be ended at the hands of another except in the case of conviction for a capital offense (such as murder, rape, treason, etc.). Nor should any government fail to support, encourage, and nurture the traditional family as the foundation of any strong society.
However, if the issue of abortion is to be decided through legislative fiat, it should be at the state level based on local standards, and should not be controlled by the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling. There is no identifiable means to justify a claim that there is a constitutional right to obtain an abortion.
There is a God-given right to enjoy life! There is no constitutional right to destroy life.
The issue that must be addressed at the federal level is that no federal funding of abortion should be permitted under any circumstances.
Particularly within the Health Care debate, the left has been falsely claiming that the provisions of the "Hyde Amendment" is adequate to address the issue of denying funding for abortions under the health care reform bills currently moving through the Congress. Since these bills provide for their own separate financing systems they do NOT fall under the Hyde Amendment's jurisdiction which only covers the Department of Health and Human Services budget. To claim that funding would not be permitted because of this Amendment is, at best, mistaken, and at worst, a bare-faced lie.
The Democrats have voted down every attempt to prevent abortion funding during this process. Therefore, all of the bills are fatally flawed in this regard and should be defeated (for many reasons, but in the context of this issue alone, they, the bills, are what should be killed).