Should abortion be legal?

So here is one of those hot social issues that has wrapped the country around the opinion axel and really it comes down to how you approach social issues.

For me the issue has a couple sides: 1. Questions about whether abortion is good or right and 2. Questions about whether the state should be involved in preventing or supporting abortions.

The answer to question 1 is that I think on the whole abortion is bad.  I'm against abortion, just as I am against any other form of killing.  HOWEVER, let's look at killing.

Is owning a gun illegal?  No. But guns are used for killing... so if killing is bad aren't guns, and shouldn't we make it illegal to own a gun?  Again, No - why because we have a clear history that shows that while sometime guns are misused in the big picure our society benefits by allowing ordinary citizens to have access to guns.  (I'm not going to argue this point - our society allows guns, even if only controlled access or limited access for some and in the end the core reason has to do with the benefit to society vs. the cost.  You might not agree but it doesn't change what society has decided on that issue.)  I like to think of it as the 'self-defense' exception which basically operates on the idea that not everyone and everything in the world is good.  Sometimes good people run into bad things and guns allow good people to prevent things that are worse than a single killing.

Unfortunately, abortion falls into this category.  Abortion is bad, I do consider it killing.  Having said that, there are many other bad things in the world some of which can result in a pregnancy or can occur during child-birth.  With this in mind there are times when the person involved in an abortion can justify their actions and as such should have a right to take that action. Let's be honest that's where the complexity lies - understanding all the 'edge' cases where a woman needs an abortion to prevent another bad outcome. 

The key is, government shouldn't be involved in this decision.  There should be laws on who can provide an abortion to ensure safety, rules about when an abortion is legal in terms of fetus age (yes I'd rather see a birth early to protect the life of the Mother potentially putting the infant at risk, then just killing the unborn infant for the same result).  But in the big picture we want as little government control in this area as possible.  Regulations to ensure safety, yes but I don't want a board that asks women if they meet the moral criteria for a given abortion.

In the end I see the right to get an abortion in line with the right to own a gun.  I am firmly against getting abortions and just like I don't expect the goverment to buy me a gun I don't want the government paying for abortions.  However, it's not my job to determine if a woman who needs an abortion really just wants one or if she meets my moral standard for getting that abortion.  The governments role should be in ensuring abortions are safe, it is the job of the church and society to explain why abortions are bad.

In my big picture if abortion rights and gun rights are viewed from the same perspective and treated similarly, we are by my moral compass on the right path.

 - theres probably a ton of stuff I could better clarify, but if you are open to the idea hopefully I've communicated why I'm against abortion but for the right to an abortion.