Pro-Choicers, what is the philosophy behind abortion law?

[titobeau]

Why is it alright for a woman to kill her unborn child four months before birth, but considered murder the minute it is born?

I'm not trying to troll, I am seriously confused why the pro-choice folks don't want to talk about this.

There is the argument that it is a hard decision and you can't make it for the woman, but we have no problem charging women with a crime when they commit infanticide. Why is it an option before and not after?

There also is the argument that women should not be forced to be an incubator and carry a child for nine months. I also think this argument is bull, because the women had the initial choice. A life > A Lifestyle

If you need to know, I think it should be considered murder, except in the minuscule number of cases where the woman's life is threatened, then it becomes a triage situation. Not for rape, incest. Please don't go into unnecessary details about Roe, I already have studied it quite a bit; and please don't make this a religious debate.
"It has no feelings, it has no thoughts". I don't think we know that. As for someone forcing a choice, I'm wondering why it was a choice in the first place? Why are there legal consequences for one and not the other? What is it about the circumstances that make the infanticide OK?

Also, who gets to decide whether a fetus is viable or not? It has its own individual DNA right at conception. (and you would classify a seedling as tree)
I support all birth control and the morning after pill (which would be a good option for a rape victim). As for black/white mindset, I don't see how you label me that.

Is this justification utilitarian? How can we account that a woman's life is more valuable than a child that potentially will outlive the mother? Wouldn't another life be beneficial to society?
Dude, I said this wasn't a religious debate. Yes I read some of the other questions like this before I asked mine.

[Jen LV Abb]

I understand where your coming from, but as a women, I don't feel right when someone tells me what I can and can't do with my body, and how I want to go about with my life! Its a decision that the woman has to make, not the government!

[islander8181]

As Adam B stated....a fetus is just that. It's not really a human being with thoughts and feelings in the first trimester. In fact, at certain points in its development, it actually has gills. And fertilized eggs are often discarded from the uterus without us even knowing about it. They simply fail to attach to the uterine lining. We don't name these fertilized eggs - nor do we have funerals or even record them in any legal records. Even miscarriages are treated as such. They have no names, cemetary plots, records, etc. And I know of no one who ever even mentions how happy they will be to be reunited in heaven with a brother or sister, daughter or son, who never was actually born.

[Adam B]

It's not as black-and-white as you make it out to be. Society doesn't start to have an interest in the fetus until it is viable. Before that point, there is only one independent life - that of the woman - and she must be free to do with her body as she wishes.

Once the fetus passes the point of viability, the state has a rising interest in preserving the life of the fetus. This is why many states have abortion laws restricting the availability of abortions starting in the 2nd trimester. Toward the end of pregnancy, basically no abortions take place unless the mother's life is in danger.

A fetus is not a life. It will be if it's allowed to grow, but no one argues that a seedling is an oak tree. A fetus is what it is - a fetus. It has no feelings, it has no thoughts, and its "rights" do not trump the rights of the mother, who IS an actual human being, to control her own destiny. That's not a lifestyle - society doesn't have the right to impose motherhood on anyone. And it's very nice that you don't think abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, but I say that makes you a barbarian. No woman should be forced to carry the product of such a union. I care more about the psychological well-being of a grown woman than I do about a life in potentia.