I am the rare pro-lifer who opposes abortion in the case of rape.

I am the rare pro-lifer who opposes abortion even in the case of rape. For me it is about principle, I am not allowed to kill someone for being incredibly inconvenient to me or for reminding me of a person or event that has done terrible harm to me.

I also oppose abortion in the case of parents or a mother who is incredibly poor.

I am sure you would not suggest we kill living children in poverty, or that we sterilize the poor so they cannot have any children. The poverty of the modern world is nothing compared to the poverty just twenty years ago, which is nothing compared to the poverty of a few centuries ago.

As global populations have expanded, we have found more resources and become more efficient, with more minds finding solutions to problems, in voluntarism (capitalism).

For every human being that has ever lived, life is full of pain and suffering. But what is the purpose of our ability to feel both, except to keep us alive a little longer?

I want every human being to have what chance it can to live a fulfilled life. I know my life, behind the curtain of appearances, has been full of suffering, like all lives are, but I have meaning in my suffering. And that has made all the difference in my life.

There are people who believe all life is is pain and suffering and that it is therefore better not to have lived than to feel pain. They are called anti-natalists.

They have some fascinating arguments. I recently read one such argument as presented in Quillette. Ultimately, they argue for the eradication of all life in as painless a manner as is possible, as they deem pain, rather than death, to be evil.

I believe pain is a good, as it keeps us from death, longer. e.g. I will not stare at the sun as it would hurt my eyes, and thus, I am not blind.

Eugenics, and the sterilisation of the poor are both also recent events in the West. The poor and the stupid were prevented from having children, or sterilized when they came to hospital to give birth.

The argument was that it was good for society as a whole and would prevent there being more people suffering at the bottom rungs of society. I don't believe that was the effect of sterilisation.

I think many poor people were denied the thing which makes life worthwhile, meaning, by not being able to be parents. Having responsibility for the welfare of another fills life with deep meaning.