Webster's Dictionary says abortion is "the expulsion of a nonviable fetus". But how do we determine whether it is nonviable or not? Is that when it's already dead, or dying, or is it nonviable when the mother cannot, or will not, take care of it? Why is it that a baby is a baby only when we want it to be, inside the womb or out? And so, "The fetus must be invested with maternal valuing in order to become more human. This process of "humanization" through personal consciousness and "sociality" can only be bestowed by the woman in whose body and psychosocial system a new life must mature." (Callahan, 37, 38) It is so sad that we can think we have the right to determine the life or death of a potential person. There is only one thought when the word abortion comes to my mind: MURDER. .
Webster's defines murder as "to kill a human being unlawfully and with premeditated malice, the crime of unlawfully killing a person." A pro-choice advocate would exclaim, "That's ok, but how do we tell whether an embryo is a person? And does the mother really commit murder when she has an abortion?" I would reply to them that yes, indeed you are committing murder when you have an abortion, because an embryo is a unique person from conception. When the sperm meets the egg, a person begins. The person has an entirely new set of DNA than both parents and is an individual. It is alive, because anything that is growing is alive, as supported by Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Willke, "He has the characteristics of life. That is, he can reproduce his own cells and develop them into a specific pattern of maturity and function. Or more simply, he is not dead." (Willke, ch. 10) So, what you are really doing is killing a person. Period. End of discussion. However, pro-choice advocates, like Bonnie Steinbock, think "the mistake consists in thinking of a "potential person" as a kind of person, and, on this basis, ascribing to "potential persons" the rights of other persons.