The middle way through the abortion debate

I do sometimes talk a little out current affairs even if a career in politics it had to be said did nothing for my mental health and indeed only served to highlight the impact of  intellectual disabilities in coping in very adult situations and lead to age regression  as part of the coping mechanism becoming more prevalent.
One issue that has been much talked about in the media is abortion which is very difficult to get across the Island of Ireland and to which in the Irish Republic (aka Southern Ireland) is illegal under a amendment to the constitutions and prevented by a 1945 Criminal law clause in Northern Ireland except for a tiny exemption.
There is little getting around the fact this is a very emotive issue  that transcends everyday political differences on different sides of the argument and for some is linked to religious centred notions of morality.
For me it's not something that I see as a clear-cut issue because universal statements of principal don't always help in a persons own individual situation where we may be looking at the least damaging outcome as much as I may share a general view where it may be of benefit.
In the general hierarchy of birth control I tend to look on abstinence or the taking of contraceptives as being the primary means of individuals taking control of giving birth, exercising personal responsibility and only having a child when they feel able to meet those needs.
In general I do not believe in abortion being available to act in the place of the use of contraception nor personally do I believe a parent carrying a child born with a disability should be advised as a matter of routine to have an abortion. That's influenced by being disabled and having grown up in the disabled community from childhood covering a wide range of physical, intellectual and learning disabilities and their families.
However to me there are other situations where the physical and  mental well-being of the mother take on an important consideration where they may be unable to look after the child, where having the child especially when born under traumatic situations would lead to a state of distress likely to result in a nervous breakdown where it would seem to me to be unreasonable to oppose a request because the outcome for mother and child if not would be to detriment of both.
Such applications it seems to me need to be considered on their own merits.
That for me is why I understand why some may be generally and genuinely uncomfortable emotionally and ethically with abortion, in the end I come down to permitting in certain situations and why the individual and their situation matters so much that to write an absolute prohibition in a constitution or to have a situation where a woman who has an abortion regardless of circumstance  may receive a longer prison sentence than a person who commits murder is not one I can agree with.
The general principal is very important but the right decision for the individual in their own circumstances matters more in dealing with such matters in fair and compassionate way.