Throughout these debates, I have simply rolled my eyes and bitched to my husband about McCain's condescension and smugness. When he started talking about abortion and his so-called "compassion", I started screaming at my television. I've never had a pregnancy or an abortion (well, according to some lovely conservatives my twice use of Plan B constitutes one...) but I know I face the prospect of infertility and cannot even IMAGINE going through what happened to the women in these posts. How easy and despicable it is for McCain to sum up such a scenario in quotation-mark-fingers.

Thanks for collecting these, Torrie. I missed this last debate, and now I'm glad that I did. As Uppercase Woman stated, I had no intention of voting for McCain anyway (esp after he picked Palin as his running mate), but I had always held a certain amount of respect for him as a person. Sort of like, if I HAD to vote for a Republican, I could probably sleep at night if I voted for him. But after reading these posts, and doing my own research on the subject in question, and thinking about my friend who lost her baby at 38 weeks and had to search high and low for a doctor who would "abort" her baby, already deceased of hydrocephalus in utero, essentially kept alive by her body, which was now being attacked by her lost child... I almost feel a little pity for this small, small man who lives in such a tight little black and white world. Throughout all of his "experience" (note the use of air quotes) over the past 50 years, he has obviously never agonized over the loss of a child or the health of a wife, sister, or mother.

Thanks for compiling these posts - they were all so beautifully written.

I've been going over numbers lately. I'm not a socialist. Nor am I a fan of the GOP. It's a shame that there are only two sides to this election and not a third, less radical side.

I had never really thought about how this election effected me as a WOMAN. I have and would never simply abort an unwanted pregnancy, though I think each woman should be able to make her own choice.

A handful of my female acquaintances have undergone the procedure NOT as a means for continuing (or saving) their own lives, but as a form of birth control. These women infuriate me! They have taken and abused everything it MEANS to be a woman by sleeping around and throwing out one of the major things our bodies were built to do. Most of them went into the abortion clinic with a smile and came back out with one. They kept drinking and abusing their bodies because they were "going to kill the baby anyway". The same girl found MORE of a reason to abort her pregnancy upon learning that she was carrying twins.

I hate this world we live in. And I hate that I'm not being given a proper choice. Either I vote based on my opinions as a woman or I vote based on my opinions as a centrist or I vote based on my opinions on education, welfare, health care, etc. It's so frustrating!

But thanks for these reads. I was one of those zealous pro-lifers in high school (was insanely christian, too, which didn't help) and I've come around full circle. I want my rights and the rights of my children to be protected. I understand both sides and it's such a horrible situation to be in. It baffles me to think that any woman would CHOOSE to have an abortion. It's so sad and terrible..

I don't understand why being pro-life means that someone hates women.

I am a woman myself, and am pro-life. I, in fact, do not hate women.

I like what Obama had to say on the subject. We need to find a compromise that everyone can live with.

That's going to entail all of us calming down, taking a deep breath and working together to come up with a solution.

I'm not sure that we are capable of doing that- not yet anyway.

I like to think that I'm both pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortions, it means pro- women having the ability to choose a medically safe procedure whatever their reasons or circumstances.

My religious beliefs might make me "pro-life" (from conception to birth and beyond including being quite anti-war and anti-death penalty) but I think it is not the governments business to regulate or impose personal belief, so I don't believe that my personal belief should be imposed on all women. I believe in the safe and rare abortion. I'm sorry and I hurt for any girl or woman who feels they have to make that choice or truly has no real choice when health is a factor.

I'm all about less or no abortions but not at the risk of losing the control I have to makes decisions over my body.