Virginia, conception isn't a "miracle" it's a fact of biology. A miracle would be an infertile women carrying a child to term. Or if we want to colour it with religious doctrine, immaculate conception is a miracle. This of course assumes that one believes miracles exist.

All pregnancies do not produce a baby. A woman can be pregnant for a very short period of time before a miscarriage occurs (often due to the body's responsive mechanism against genetically unviable fetuses). We can't argue it's not life, but it's life without personhood, and isn't much of an advancement past the gametes used to create it. So it isn't human life that can inherently rank in priority over the concerns of the pregnant woman. We can't substitute judgment of a person that hasn't yet become a societal agent, because we don't know what it wants or values. We do, however, know those things of the woman, and this provides us with a reasoned, if perhaps unsatisfactory for some, point of departure.

Alan Black, London, UK

I reluctantly agree with abortion. However, I cannot agree that it is "a woman's right to choose" what happens to her body, because whether she likes it or not she is responsible for the welbeing of another person's body: the baby inside her.

Matthew, Ringwood, UK

Peter Sozou is absolutey correct. The technology is irrelevant to the decision......if not we could reach a stage when a zealot
researcher could keep a conception alive from the moment a sperm fertilizes the egg. The natural limit - if natural is the correct word - is the time when a baby could not survive without technology, and we are already below that limit..

David Bowker, Manchester , UK

I believe any woman has the right to an abortion if she wants one. However, saying that I think the cut off time should be the end of the first trimester, unless medical urgency comes up later. I think a woman can decide within 2 1/2 months on whether she wants to keep this child and the procedure would be less traumatic on her. The longer the woman is pregnant, the harder the decision will be to make and if she chooses to terminate, the decision will be harder to live with the longer it goes on.

Robin Castelllanos, San Antonio, TX, USA

A viable, healthy pregnancy leads to a viable, healthy baby. The week/month does not matter. You can kill it at 4 weeks or at 28 weeks, the result is the same. 6,700,000 victims so far...

Sandy Cox, London,

If there was a market in babies, such as there is in cars for instance, then there would be neither the need for abortion or IVF treatment. However, there is no such market, nor is there likely to ever be one. Therefore each set of circumstances must, and should, be treated seperately. Whether a foetus can survive at a certain stage of gestation or not is totally irellevent.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Abortion should be available on demand. It's the mother's body and the mother's life right up until the little guy/girl is out there with a lung full of air. Prior to that you have a collection of interesting cells upon which you can project a range of emotions, ability to understand and motivations.

Miracles don't enter into it either unless you're willing to say any highly unusual event you don't really understand is a miracle (and this would include miscarriages and most forms of politics).

The trauma of an abortion can be compared and contrasted with the trauma of giving a child up for adoption. I can't imagine any potential mother being pleased at having an abortion, but a choice is still a choice.

Warren, Sydney, Australia

l dont agree with abortions period. life is precious, the whole conception procedure in itself is a miracle. lt does not matter what stage it is, ultimately all pregnancies produce a baby. Contraception is easily available so pregancies should be avoided if a child is not wanted. Even if it is accidental or a rape case, the baby should be adopted out. Women comptemplating abortions should watch what happens to the foetus during the procedure. They might change their minds or it will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Virginia, Brisbane, Australia