Your Overall View?

Which of the following positions comes closest to your view? Consider the typical case and not the exceptions that you might want to allow for later. (Also notice that we are asking about morality and not law at this point.)

Abortion is seldom or never morally justified. Early abortions are permissible. Late ones are much more serious. Most early and late abortions are permissible. I can't see how this issue can be decided.

In developing your position on the morality of abortion, you may want to include various exceptions to the general rule. Exceptions can be based either on the intrinsic moral facts of certain cases or on extrinsic considerations. Be sure that you have a clear view of the grounds for any exceptions you allow.

For example: You might argue that early abortions are never intrinsically wrong but that it is wrong to abort in order to select the sex of the baby because of the broader consequences of such abortions. This argument relies on extrinsic considerations.

Or you might argue that abortion is usually wrong, but that it is permissible to save the life of the mother. This argument might rely on her right to self-defense (rather than broader consequences, as in the previous example).