Reply to Theologically speaking, why is abortion so "bad" in Christianity (compared to Judaism, Islam, etc)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up very involved in the evangelical pro-life movement and was certainly "indoctrinated" from a young age that God actively cared about the pre-born and "knitted me together in my mother's womb" (verse from the Psalms). By the time I was an older teen I had been shown videos of an abortion (I still feel sick to my stomach thinking of the "silent scream") and was taught/shown that this was essentially torturing babies. I question that now but it's hard to get rid of the gut reaction that it's violent and causes suffering with no compassion...

I am not religious any longer and generally vote quite liberally but have been unable to grasp how so many of my coworkers at a human rights org seem to not even consider the fetus at all. I have so much compassion for women who are facing an unwanted pregnancy and can see both sides. I certainly have always donated, volunteered and voted to support women and children in vulnerable circumstances.

Since I no longer factor God into the equation, all I'm left with is my ethics. I don't have a guideline stating 120 days in God breathes a soul. That sounds much easier to accept. No offence, but the Talmud teaching the fetus is essentially the women's thigh just doesn't make sense to me. Scientifically the fetus is not the woman's thigh or even close. And because I'm not Jewish I have no reason to adopt that line of thinking.

I guess my ethics might say that before a fetus can feel pain the woman has a greater interest and her will should be more strongly considered, but after the fetus can feel pain we need to take into account its suffering and at least humanely euthanize it before its terminated. I have a hard time accepting the idea of abortion at this point at all though.

Whether it's "life" or "potential life" doesn't really seem to matter as much. If it can feel pain and suffer I care. I feel like I should give as much consideration to this kind of being as I would give a dog or cat. And weigh that against the interest of the woman. That's where I feel like I can't agree with most pro-choice advocates. It's very hard to go from believing that this is a life with infinite value in the eyes of God to it being worth not even a second thought if the woman doesn't want it. I am not able to make that leap completely, even if I wanted to.[/quote]

OP here. I have never met anyone who said that a fetus doesn't matter and they don't care at all.

The line of thinking from how I grew up, and most people I know (all religions and non religions) is that [u]a woman matters more[/u]. Not that the fetus has zero worth, but that a woman, who is here and exists in this world, who has sovereignty... [b]she comes first[/b].  Always. This is true religiously, and even secularly. It makes sense. I cannot wrap my head around the idea that a woman and a fetus are completely equal, or that the fetus matters more. I do not understand that idea from a religious or secular standpoint. 
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