Let me emphatically state at the outset of this short blog: I have always thought the elective termination of pregnancy (ETOL) was a serious moral issue. As I have taught students over the years on this topic, to fully appreciate the moral conflict around abortion (or any other moral conflict) one must be willing to put oneself in the middle of two important value positions. In other words, one must be willing to hold and take seriously in one's mind simultaneously two opposing thoughts or value positions in order to weigh them fairly. .
Though I don't think that a fetus is a person with a personal or social identity, it is biologically human "and that alone is a relevant piece of moral information. The fetus has a unique genetic code and has the potential to grow to full term into a new baby and eventually grow into a child, adolescent, and adult human being. Because a fetus has the potential to become a full-fledged member of the human community, all things equal, we should not destroy it. But rarely in human life are all things equal.
Recognizing the moral value of fetal life alone is neither a sufficient condition for fully appreciating the gravity of the moral issue of abortion nor for claiming one is pro-life. One must also recognize other important value considerations, viz. the obvious biological and physical reality that the fetus is living inside a human being who unquestionably is a person with full moral and legal rights. So in taking measures to protect the fetus there is the inevitable risk of wrongfully imposing on and usurping the rights and liberties of another human being. Just as one cannot fully appreciate the gravity of the abortion debate if one does not see fetal life as a value simply because it is biologically human, neither can one appreciate the abortion debate if the full moral standing of the pregnant woman is not taken as a foundational moral premise.