On the growing use of abortion pill RU-486...

There's report on the growing use of an abortion pill called RU-486 (more commonly referred to as "miffy"). Is it a good and bad thing?

To the religious right, it's always a wrong thing, however way you slice and dice the issue. An abortion is an abortion, and along the process, a baby (whatever stage it's in) is terminated. Religions allow no room for argument. Hence we have the Muslim fundamentalists who are so dead set in killing all things and everyone that is western, and west-leaning. So, there cannot be any argument that abortion can be condoned, in whatever non-intrusive and private ways there might be.

In truth, reality is a lot more complicated than that. There are more urgent situations (eg. pregnancy as a result of rape or incense) in which pregnancies are unwanted, and it's a sure thing that the baby, if born, could suffer. Legal framework has provided cover for these situations, thus allowing less outright disagreement from the religious right to elbow in.

But in situations whereby the pregnancy affects only the "quality of life" of the parents, should that be allowed (eg. parents who are not ready for a baby, teen pregnancy, or family that have a large number of kids that they could hardly afford more)? Religious right has a solution for it too. In the words of George W Bush, it's called abstinence. Again, no room for argument. Not even contraception.

Such is the condescension from on high, that if you do not abstain, and you get pregnant, it's your fault, so suck it up and take the baby. So high-handed is the approach that the ideology is formulated as policy by the Bush administration in both domestic policy and foreign aid program. I do not agree with that at all.

While it's all mighty easy to talk about abstinence in his Oval Office, it's not practical and oftentimes impossible for women in developing countries to practice. Is that that fault? No. The traditions and customs in so many countries would not and do not allow that as a viable option for women. The unwanted pregnancies and babies will simply put the women and girls further and further behind the social ladder, rendering them a permanent underclass to serve the men.

The news of this abortion pill can be a godsend to these women, if only the costs can come down, to make it practical as well as possible.