As a person without a uterus and vanishingly unlikely to ever birth a another living being, I accept that abortion is something I don't reasonably have control over, and default to letting decide those who can give birth.<p>I've mentioned before that I opted for a vasectomy after my spouse and I had enough children (one, in our case, is enough). It's a relative luxury to have access to that surgery, and I'm thankful it is an option. How would it feel if it were an illegal procedure? Or if it were mandated?<p>Whether or not I ejaculate sperm is nowhere close to the risk of dying in childbirth, or carrying to term a child of a rapist, or giving birth to a child the parent(s) will not be able to properly care for, for whatever reason. I write this to suggest you let go of attempts to control what is reasonably beyond your control. That may be uncomfortable, and that's okay.<p>When I was in Japan someone told me about the Shinto perspective of souls, something like "if it's not time for that particular soul to inhabit a body, it just gets back in line for another opportunity." This perspective helps me relax a bit about abortion and thinking I should do anything other than promote public money go to organizations like Planned Parenthood (which does far more for people's health than carry out abortions) and keep abortion legal (where to draw the line on how many weeks is not for me to decide).<p>If you find death and killing an interesting and thrilling topic, I suggest reading On killing : the psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society, by Lt Col Dave Grossman [0]. Fighting and killing each other and other animals is something we all (generally speaking) have access to and can reasonably weigh in on. It is uncomfortable to me how much money and resources we (I'm in the USA) spend on the military (and I served awhile, honorably discharged, blah blah), and I accept we'll keep fighting wars for a long time. Per Gandalf's admonition to Frodo about wishing Bilbo had killed Gollum in the tunnels when he'd had the chance, I don't like the death penalty. I like the banishment option that the Lakota (I think? And likely many other cultures) used, though now we can find belonging online. In some ways I miss the pre-internet days where it was important to get to know one's physical neighbors, regardless of their politics (I make a point to talk with all my neighbors, and sometimes this means we just talk about the weather, and that's fine).<p>[0] <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/on-killing-the-psychological-cost-of-learning-to-kill-in-war-and-society/" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/on-killing-the-psychological-...</a>