One of the most emotional issues today (at least in the United States, I am aware it is not contentious in many other countries) is abortion. The stereotypical anti-abortion activist is either an Evangelical Christian or a VERY devout Roman Catholic. As a result, the topic is often lumped in as part of a broad spectrum of “cultural” types of issues including pornography, same-sex marriage, prostitution, recreational drug use and the distribution of condoms in high school. It is, after all, very often the same core group of people who are most active in the opposition to all of these things. This ignores the core of the issue however. The most frequently debated aspect of this question is not what the Bible says about the topic but a very valid medical and scientific question: when does human life begin. One need not be religious to have an opinion on the matter and one need not be religious to believe that human life begins as soon as sperm hits egg. Indeed, I cannot speak for anyone else but I am an ignostic who believes that human life does begin at conception and oppose abortion. Let me be clear, my opposition to abortion does not imply I agree with most other abortion opponents on any of the other “social issues” mentioned above. I am perhaps a minority within a minority within a minority when it comes to this topic. Nor does my opposition to abortion mean I do not support a stateless society: I most certainly do.
So now I come to my two part question: 1. When did abortion become a significant issue and 2. Why did this question become primarily a “religious” one in the minds of so many? I know I am not alone in being a secular opponent. At least of the founders of Libertarians for Life is atheist.