Xanadu84 said:
Pro lifers believe that a fetus is alive. Consciousness is a sticky subject, so how can we call that crazy? Now going from that reasonable but wrong assumption, we arrive at the conclusion that abortion is murdering a tiny, helpless, otherwise healthy human being. Look at it from there reasonable but wrong perspective. Should a woman have the right to kill a child? Of course not. Pro choicers simply see that that thing is not a child.
Life is determined by an entirely opinion based subject like 'consciousness' now? So, simply being a living member of the species, even if of limited mental capacity(Which is a necessary stage in the beginning steps of our life), isn't enough? The expression of consciousness in interpret-able ways doesn't even really begin until more than a year after birth in some cases, when the baby really begins interacting with other people, and isn't just an entirely instinct driven eating machine/poop factory. If mental activity determines the humanity of an organism, abortions should be legal at any age potentially, as there will be humans who fail to meet the standards at them as well.
I am pro-choice, but the whole idea that something isn't a human because it doesn't meet an arbitrary list of human mental qualities is sillier than the idea that a human in the fetal stage of their life is a member of our species. The point I'm getting at is pro-choicers should focus on the fact that women deserve the right to control their own bodies, a fetus, while still human, is occupying space in their body, consuming resources, and can potentially pose a health risk. They have every right to decide if allowing another human to exist is worth the potential dangers and responsibilities that they will personally be forced to deal with by the nature of the situation.
It isn't like murdering a random other person in the street, a person who posed no threat and didn't stand to literally become the most time/resource consuming aspect of their life. It is a justifiable homicide, not murder.
Homicide (Latin: homicidium, Latin: homo human being + Latin: caedere to cut, kill) refers to the act of a human killing another human.