The problem is that anyone who has had an abortion and understands the complexity of the world is seen as a raving feminist.

I personally think she's just very, very stupid.

Do we know if Sherri Stupid is pro-choice or anti-choice? From the quotes I can't tell - so is she the face of the anti-choice crowd?

Sherri is as stupid as a box of hair. I can't even imagine how ignorant she was back when "she was young". Hate to sound callous, but isn't it preferrable that she chose to have the abortions, rather than bringing additional waifs into the world?

Trumpet the joys of abortions if you want, but don't misrepresent Christian beliefs on the subject. It is incorrect to label Sherri Shepherd's beliefs "irreponsible" and "ignorant" if you don't have the decency to understand them.

Christians believe in the resurrection. They believe that every person who dies comes back again, not as the elderly person who died, or as the fetus, or as the child or teenager, but as a redeemed, perfect being that resembled the person on earth but is also something entirely different. This resurrected being is a perfected form of the human. The deaf can hear, the lame can walk, and so on. A person who dies a quadriplegic is not resurrected a quadriplegic.

In the same way, a killed fetus comes back as a living, and yes, talking being. So what Shepherd is saying is consistent with Christian doctrine. The point of Christian doctrine is that all living humans have a soul, and that soul is perceived by God as "mature," even if the person is physically immature.

If you find Christian doctrine absurd, that's another issue entirely. But given her belief system, Shepherd's assertion is not at all absurd. The point is, if you are going to write about Christian belief, get a book out and learn the first thing about it. C S Lewis discusses this topic repeatedly in his works, most notably in either The Problem of Pain and the Abolition of Man.

She's just telling her story. Mine wouldn't make me seem much smarter, or a more worthy advocate for either side of the abortion issue.

My main concern is that she lumps having abortions in with abuse and low self esteem, as though a young woman with a positive outlook on life would never make the decision--or be in the position to.

That being said, if Shepherd feels guilt over her abortions, and the whole babies-in-heaven thing makes her feel better about it, fine. If it makes her look goofy, fine. I doubt anyone is trying to make her into the face of pro-choicers or anti-abortionists.

Well, then why didn't she say so instead of saying her babies would be there saying "hi mama," and all that crap?

And seriously, do you really think that more evengelicals have read C.S. Lewis (crazy as that nutjob was) than watch "The View?"

Oh, and while I'm at it...yes, your beliefs about meeting perfect people in heaven are absurd. Perfect according to who? How are they perfected? Are gay people not gay in heaven? Wait, they're not allowed in, right? How about fetuses with chromosal abnormalities? Do they get their genes all fixed up? How about people who grew up with those same chromosomal abnormalities? Do they get adjusted up to par on the IQ scale, or do they get an extra boost for all their time spent lower down? What about pets? Will you be surrounded by hordes of perfected goldfish, lost down countless toilet bowls?

The whole idea is for the soft-skulled who desperately need to believe something to feel better about death.

I see it as a reason why women need abortions and need control over their bodies. Because women are not always in the right place to have a child every moment of her life. Being in an abusive relationship and being pregnant could have put her life at risk.

Her reasons for abortions are perfectly reasonable, she was being abused, she hated herself, so that dumb as a box of hair woman actually made a good choice. She chose to terminate pregnancies she was in no way capable of managing in a responsible manner and no man anywhere, not the one who was beating her, not some guy writing bills, not some guy on a bench should be able to make that kind of decision for someone else not knowing each woman's personal situation in life.

It shows why women have to have control over her own body, there are so many forces always trying to take it away.

Does she feel bad about it, she obviously does and that's not a crime, women feel bad about giving their babies away for adoption, women feel bad about keeping their child, when you have feelings there is always regret and bad feelings about something you have done. Especially over something like abortion where so many people are running around calling it murder and beating you over the head with how you should feel bad and feel ashamed.

As for the whole heaven issue, big deal, Christians believe every soul worthy of heaven gets up there in the most perfect form that never ages or decays. They believe a soul is put into every fertilized egg. So, no one knows if souls are really real and if they are real when they enter a person. It's a philosophical discussion, not a scientific one.

I think Sherri was not talking so much about her lack of self-esteem and the abortions and tying the two together. I think she meant that her lack of self-esteem got her into situations where she was making poor choices about men and relationships. Women who feel good about themselves don't get into abusive relationships.

...and I'd go even further. I think that a woman might have regret and unresolved feelings over abortion even if there were no societal stigma. To be clear, I am completely against any legislation that restricts a woman's right to choose (including existing laws), but I don't think that making it legal will make it an easier choice. The point is that it's an incredibly personal and difficult decision. And if you're pregnant, no matter what choice you make will have consequences. Yes I do tend to think that sometimes it doesn't make sense to bring a child into the world if you can barely take care of yourself, but I don't know if it's always the case and I don't believe that even if it were more socially acceptable it would be easy.

I think it's important on both sides of the argument to acknowledge this. Making it legal doesn't erase the emotional turmoil of the situation. It is difficult and it's okay to acknowledge that. It doesn't mean abortion should be illegal. And for those anti-choice activists who like to paint pictures of women wantonly having abortions every few months as a form of birth control...well, I think they need to allow for the possibility that even those "sinful" women who have sex not just for the purposes of having a child might be capable or a little bit more introspection than that.