Rise and Fall...Life and Death

It seems that BSG is full of surprises with the latest episode touching on another hot political issue or should I say a continuing issue in respects to abortion. The President of the colonies, played by Mary McDonnell, has to make a decision on a subject that is close to her heart - whether or not to allow an abortion to occur. Her stance is the right for woman of all the colonies to decide what they wish to do with an unwanted pregnancy. Her moral values strongly conflict with her deep need to keep the population expanding so as not to have the human race become extinct in less than 18 years. The issue of command is another topic brought to light. Admiral Adama places an engineering officer in command of the Pegasus. His lack of experience as a command officer becomes easily apparent when a training mission goes wrong. This segment of the episode shows how not all are meant to lead. Producers Ron Moore and David Eick use their political science backgrounds to give folks a view from both sides of an issue, be it on an issue of war, education or in this case abortion. Both of these men seem to know what is important to fans and non fans alike that watch the show. We as fans may or not always agree with the subject matter of a particular episode, we may or may not like the outcome that the writers decide upon, but I think we are in agreement for the most part that the show gives us a chance to see both sides of a coin.