tangential ranting after a long tangential night

i happened upon Dave as he was watching the news this morning. at first, they were talking about the demographics of some pseudo-scientific abortion-opinion polls; apparently they hadn't already noticed catholics are generally more liberal than protestants. then they were talking about China's advances in human cloning and stem cell research. as usually, they capped the story by pointing out that people who don't like that sort of thing say that that sort of thing is immoral (i'm always amazed at how redundant the vast majority of 'communication' actually is).
thinking about this, i realized that there was a wierd pattern in evidence here. abortion is the ending of fetal life, stem cell research is the perpetuation of fetal life; they're opposites, but what do they have in common? the same people say no one should be allowed to do either of them.
i'm really tired of people saying no one should be allowed to do things. if they'd offer a better solution to the problems we have, no one would do these things they don't like, as there would be no reason to. instead, they just forbid things and assume people will get along without. bullshit.
a great example: abortions happen. legal, illegal, whatever. they happen. should they happen in hospitals or alleys? that's what the abortion debate is really about. anyone who thinks it's a good idea to promote backalley abortions is stupid and cruel, whether or not they look it or know it.
if you're pro-life and offended by having how stupid and cruel you're acting pointed out, i'm glad.