I'm a Flip-Flopper

I would make an awful politician. One of the assets I think I possess in abundance is the ability to look at all sides of a tough situation and consider all realistic possibilitities before I make up my mind. As a younger man, as an example, I was always pro-choice. I favored a woman's choice to make her own decision about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy figuring that she was in the best position to determine if her life situation warranted the bringing of a child into this world. Paradoxically, I spend most of my adult life litigating cases against the pharmaceutical industry and doctors for the damage drugs did to fetuses at between days 25-45 of pregnancy. i.e. generally the time period when most abortions are performed. The lawsuit was always brought on behalf of the child who was injured. It has been only recently, after bringing the concept that a child injured during this time frame was entitled to a legal cause of action to change the archaic state of the law of Texas, that the 'right to life' position re the 'killing of babies' has come to occupy a positiion of respect in my mind. I use this language carefully because I am still unsure whether or not as a public policy all abortions should be banned, but I do believe, unlike previously, there is some validity to the point. I have always been first and foremost stuck by the hateful rhetoric employed by the right-to-lifers which has essentially drowned out the compassionate message which should have been present all along. Rather than compassion, the general sense I get from the 'right to lifers' is that their position on abortion is but one facet of an agenda dedicated to telling all people how they should live their lives, both in and outside the bedroom. There is one thing all women have when faced with this dreaded question; the fact that they are pregnant and didn't want to be. When I think about all of the ramifications of abortion, I also think of the child who, unwanted and perhaps unloved, comes into this life and emerges as a scarred and tragic figure who spreads misery and/or mayhem among others. I would respectfully suggest that most women who are placed in this unenviable position (the male contributors are largely by-standers) know all of the ramifications, good bad and otherwise, and do the right thing based upon their individual situations. There! This is why I would make such a bad politician. I've flip flopped right before your very eyes right in the time it took to write this short essay. To paraphrase my position, if I was a politician, I would say I was I was for it before I was against it before I was for it.