Reply #20: Saying it's a medical procedure doesn't mean

[geniph]

that it's without emotional resonance. Think about a mastectomy, a hysterectomy, or a man having to have a cancerous testicle removed. Do you think those procedures are without emotional resonance? Think again.

There are a lot of medical procedures that result in feelings of loss and sorrow. Abortion is one of them.

A fetus is a potential life; when it becomes life - well, that depends on how you define life. Cell division? Brain activity? Breathing? Heartbeat? They're ALL arbitrary. The point is, it's not truly INDEPENDENT life until it could survive without the mother. Sure, it's life. So is a rhinovirus. So is e.coli. It's not like human life is exactly endangered these days.

But I think it's somewhat disingenuous to claim that any woman can have an abortion with no more emotional reaction than a haircut (then again, I've known some women to have pretty serious reactions to haircuts). Sure, under some circumstances, it's removing a wart. In others, yes, it is the loss of a child to that woman. None of us are ever qualified to make that judgement for another. Every woman walks that road alone.