The Issue of Abortion

Perhaps no modern political or social issue raises as much impassioned and emotional debate as abortion. And the issue only becomes more powerful when it becomes personal. Imagine a friend comes to you and tells you she is pregnant and does not know what to do. She has already visited some objective web sites such as Yahoo! Health and learned about abortion. But now she wants your opinion of the issue. What would you say to her? Are political issues easier to think about when they are "just" political, and not personal?

Forming an Opinion

Think about a political issue that you've heard about in the news lately about which you don't have an opinion. The issue could be gun control, abortion, cloning, missile defense--anything. Now, go to a web search engine such as Yahoo.com, Lycos.com or Google.com, and conduct some research into the topic. What did you choose, and have you formed an opinion about it? What is that opinion? What arguments shaped your new opinion? Which web sites were particularly helpful? Do you plan on taking any action based on your new opinion?