The problem is that, as per usual, both extreme positions don't work. You cannot reasonably totally disallow abortions, and of course there needs to be some lim

The problem is that, as per usual, both extreme positions don't work. You cannot reasonably totally disallow abortions, and of course there needs to be some limit. So we agree where the cutoff is. As in, we discuss in congress and find some point we can agree on. Perhaps using European democracies as a guide, where things range from up to 12 weeks after conception to 6 months after conception. We could perhaps work "from first principles". Obviously abortion needs to happen after a woman knows she's pregnant. So, you should allow at least 1-2 female periods' worth (1 period = 4 weeks) + some time to schedule the procedure, which comes to that same minimum of about 12 weeks. An exception is medically necessary abortion, which is even legal (and a fact of life) after the baby leaves the birth canal (a baby without lungs will stay alive as long as the umbilical cord is intact, for example. When you cut it, and you have to cut it, baby dies. Not much can be done. And this is not the worst example by far. Though it's natural, so you might say "Approved by God", by republican logic). I must say this is one thing I don't understand about the religious position. Several abortion procedures are built into our genes (one relating to the immune system, one relating to the heart, one relating to the brain, and I doubt we've discovered all of them). Either those systems work to a minimum standard, or your own cells (or the mother's cells) will abort you. So there are very practical reasons that "God" does abortions. The theory is that these systems exist, because it vastly lowers the time it takes to produce another child, increasing the rate at which your DNA spreads. This also exists in animals (most famously male lions' post-natal abortions when they take over a troup).