The question, ‘Would I perform it?’ and “Do I think it should be legal?’ are two separate issues.
Would I perform it?: No. Even if I were qualified, I don’t think I would. I’d tell the patient to find someone else to perform it.
Do I think it should be legal?: I honestly don’t know. I don’t know if I think any abortion should be legal. I do know that if my 15 year old sister became pregnant I would encourage her to terminate the pregnancy. So, in a way, I’m inclined to say that I’m one of those people who believe that there shouldn’t be any laws regarding the procedure, that it should be up to the woman and her family, religious leaders, and doctor to decide, and the government shouldn’t have anything to do with it.
But the great unanswered question that no one can really answer is “Does a fetus count as a human life?”
Since I can’t answer this, I can’t have a position. If a fetus is a human life, it is entitled to its civil rights and deserves protection from the government. After all, the government protects its citizins right to life, and so should it protect that right for a fetus, provided that a fetus is a human life.
But a blanket statement that says all partial birth abortion is illegal wouldn’t work for me either, because there are special circumstances, like cases where the life of the mother is threatened, which that should not be subject to the law that applies to most cases. There’s enough strife caused by those decisions as it is.
At the point where the baby could theoretically survive outside of the mother, I have to say that I think destroying that life is wrong. By that time I think the fetus should be considered a human life, and is entilted to the protection of law. But I really don’t know, and haven’t really been able to come up with a solid opinion of my own yet.