An embryo is precious;
a woman is a vessel.

A fertilized egg is a person;
a woman is indentured to it.

An embryo is sacred until birth.
After that, he/she is on their own.

Abortion is murder. Rape,
incest are means to an end:

that precious fertilized egg
housed in an expendable body.

Let us make babies and babies
and babies; chlldren are something

else, probably future criminals,
probably welfare cheats whose

education hikes taxes. You
can freely dispose of them.

Marge Piercy's 18th poetry book, "The Hunger Moon: New & selected poems 1980-2010," was released by Knopf last spring and is scheduled for paperback release this spring. Several of her books, including "The Crooked Inheritance," "The Moon Is Always Female," "What Are Big Girls Made Of" and others, are in Knopf paperback. Piercy has published 17 novels, recently "Sex Wars"; two early novels, "Dance The Eagle To Sleep" and "Vida," have just been republished with new introductions by PM Press. Her memoir, "Sleeping With Cats," was published by Harper Perennial. Her work has been translated into 19 languages. She gives numerous readings, workshops and occasional speeches here and abroad. See www.margepiercy.com.

Matt Bors is a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist based in Portland, Oregon. He collaborated with war correspondent David Axe on the graphic novel War Is Boring and is the comics journalism editor at www.cartoonmovement.com.