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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][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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No one really believes that aborting a fetus is the same as murdering a child.  Look at how people reacted to the little kids being shot in Uvalde.  Does anyone really think that was the same as abortion?    4,000 embryos were lost due to a power outage at a fertility clinic in Cleveland in 2018, a loss greater than 9/11, but while it made the news, if anyone REALLY thought that embryos were the same as children, we would have a national day of mourning and remembrance every year.  We don't, because we don't.  If you were in a fertility clinic and there was a fire, would you save 100 embryos out of the freezer or a baby in the waiting room?  The fetus matters, but the actual person who is actually alive matters more.  The existing framework under Roe and Casey recognized that, and accorded with the moral intuitions of most people -- early on, abortion should be available with minimal restrictions.  Later on, states could restrict it more.  And frankly, NO ONE is having abortions for funsies in the third trimester.  Those are wanted pregnancies where something went wrong.  There's a severe abnormality incompatible with life, or the fetus is dying, or the woman's life or health is at risk.  It doesn't matter if YOU have a "hard time accepting it," especially because you seem to have no idea about why women have abortions in the third trimester.  [/quote]

+1. That a fetus is the same as a born, breathing child is patently false, no one actually believes it; no one would prioritize an unborn fetus over a living child. It is only over a WOMAN that anyone wants to prioritize the fetus. Which just speaks volumes about where this is coming from.

Someone above said that no one believes the fetus doesn't matter at all. That might be true, but I can say honestly thata random embryo (<12 weeks) doesn't matter to me at all. I truly don't care about it any more than I care about the eggs women shed every month during menstruation. (Note that that doesn't mean I wouldn't care about my own embryo, something I hoped would become my living child. But it matters to me only in terms of what it can become, not in terms of what it is.)[/quote]

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