I’m not sure that I understand your first sentence, PF. The truth is that my world and my Church have struggled with the morality/immorality of slavery for years. Today, we as a people (and a church) have reached the belief in concert that it is immoral for one human being to own another human being - that it is always immoral. We didn’t always believe that. Some people in some places still don’t believe that.
The world (and its churches) have certainly not reached a belief in concert that abortion is immoral. The fact that there are so very, very, very many views highlight the complexities and confusions of the subject.
I believe the single person who has the right to make a decision regarding abortion is the pregnant woman. I want the pregnant woman to be able to make her decision in consult with her doctor and I want her to have safe, accessible care. I am happy to defend that stance.
I’ve not heard of a situation where a woman and her doctor thought an abortion was necessary right up to the child being born, so I do not know how to speak to that hypothetical.
So long as the discussion on abortion, which is off-topic to this thread, persists, I must jump in, knowing from experience that it will be to no avail. In my faith, the abortion issue is complex and Judaism takes a middle ground. It vehemently opposes abortion on demand for reasons other than the life and health (physical and psychological) of the pregnant woman. Paradoxically perhaps, it is Orthodox Judaism which REQUIRES abortion if the mother’s life is in danger, while less orthodox branches permit but do not require such. Yet even rape and incest, while permissible according to some Orthodox rabbis since they impose an undue health concern for the woman, are NOT uniformly agreed upon as sufficient reasons for abortion within the Orthodox Jewish community. The abortion of a severely congenitally impaired unborn infant is another thorny issue within Judaism and has not been uniformly agreed upon. One thing is certain, however, and that is EVERY stream of Judaism, from Orthodox to Conservative to Reform and Reconstructionist, opposes abortion on demand without compelling justification.
The above is a summary of the Jewish viewpoint on abortion, omitting details which would fill a tome or two. However, stepping outside of the Jewish belief regarding abortion, most Jews realize, or should realize, that other religious beliefs including those held by a Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Quaker, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and so on have their own views on abortion. This is precisely why it is so difficult to legislate anti-abortion laws for the WHOLE country. The issue of abortion is linked to the issue of religious freedom. And this is also why the decision, as you believe, is and must remain a PERSONAL one on the part of the woman, her husband, family, physician, clergy, and faith, and NOT decided by the interference of government, which most conservatives are opposed to on a host of other issues.
