Tarquin's question raises an interesting point:

How many "pro-lifers" support abortion for foetuses with say, Down's Syndrome or cerebral palsy?

The problem with the 'abortion' issue is similar to the conflict between creationists and evolutionists: the lack of middle ground.

For the 45% of Americans who are Creationists, there's no way they can accept evolution in the slightest: the [[fossil record]] has to be explained away, etc. For the 10% or more of Americans who are evolutionists, there's no way they can accept any supernatural intervention that might give rise to new species. They can't even talk to each other, without the sparks flying. And whenever one side has had enough power, it used the force of law to muzzle the opposition. Used to be, teaching evolution was illegal; now, kids who speak out in class against (what they see as) scientific errors or arrogance can be penalized.

Likewise, many American pro-lifers equate abortion with murder. Period. They make no exception for birth defects (it's God's will!), some make no exception for rape and incest, and maybe some even want women to return to the days when women had a 1 out of 10 chance of dying in childbirth. I dunno. I'm just glad I'm not in any such dopy church...

And many American "pro-choicers" look on "anti-abortion" advocates as some kind of medieval woman-hating kooks who want to turn all females into unwilling baby factories (keep 'em barefoot and pregnant).

Fortunately for me, I'm not in either camp. I know a bit more about the arguments of the so-called "pro-life" side, but I know how to find the NARAL website...

Ed