To Symmetry:
Well, that's kind of a long post, and I might even say that perhaps you're backing down on some of the rhetoric even while claiming not to be. That's not intended as a kind of passive aggressive trolling, but I think you acknowledge that the rehetoric is heated, and that in some cases you wouldn't consider abortion to be the criminal act that murder implies.
Now you might think that I don't understand your viewpoint on this, and perhaps you're right. You're a pretty thoughtful poster, obviously, and you clearly don't buy in to the absolute of abortion as evil- even that small exception for ectopic pregnancies suggests that you aren't alligned with the extreme view of abortion as being murder, as advocated in Chile.
Here is my belief, and this may be a reason why you believe that I am backing down on some of my rhetoric. I do consider abortion to be the criminal act that murder implies. And I do believe that abortion is evil. However, good people can make terrible mistakes. And bad people can realize how wrong they have been and change. It is hard for me to sympathize with pro-choice people when I view their actions as so wrong. But when you are able to empathize with someone, and see it from their point of view, then you can not help but soften a little bit. Everything is forgivable; it is not about what you have done but who you are. The main goal is not punishment, repaying evil for evil, but overcoming evil with good.
Now I fundamentally diagree with your premise that the debate is about whether life begins at conception, or birth. Most policies around the world on abortion don't follow that standard. Rather the debate seems to be about whether it begins at conception, or some point of viability during the pregnancy. It's easy to portray the other side as advocating a free for all on abortions up until the actual date, but in practice it's a strawman, and as you yourself have acknowledged that you would support late term abortions in certain cases- specifically when the life of the mother is under significant threat, rather a bizarre one for you to be making.
"Most policies around the world" has nothing to do with what is right or what is American. And I can use all of the logos, pathos, and ethos, I want in my arguments on how life begins at conception. But the fact is, it's very hard to catch people when they are so very good at dodging. But luckily, it's not me that has to catch you, nor the pro-life movement, your country, or even the world. The truth that has already caught everyone, I just hope that society will eventually realize this and embrace the truth. It too thousands of years for slavery, and it takes a while for every genocide as well.
Logically embryos have all the genetic information in them to form every trait of the human beings. Logically when something turns from doing nothing to growing rapidly it is alive. Logically this is
the point where humans must get rights, otherwise all of our rights are in danger do to arbitrary limitations.
Ethically if there was even a minute chance that embryos/fetuses were alive/human/have souls/deserving of life then we should all be storming the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade because this is a mistake that we can not afford to take chances on.
Pathologically look at the fetuses yourself. Take a good long look. Now grab one and throw it in the trash. Or just crush it with your fingers, depending on how big it is.
Also... as to the straw man, I'm pretty sure Metsfanmax was advocating "free for all on abortions up until the actual date"
My point on the heated rhetoric is that it's pretty hateful. Abortion is abortion, not genocide, or murder. There is the possiblity to disagree with it as a practice without demonisation. The problem of poor comparisons emerges- when you say an abortion doctor is as bad as Hitler, then Hitler is only as bad as an abortion doctor. Poorly thought out comparisons can cut both ways.
I do not want to come across as demonizing. I do not hate pro-choice people... Although they do make me really angry it is their ideas and the practice itself that I hate. As to comparisons... the Hitler/abortion doctor does not really work as an analogy. The Nazi guards would equal abortion doctors, pro-choice people would equal the silent german people. And those who get abortions would be those who turned in Jews. There are differences and these comparisons will definitely make some people mad, but I am fine with that. It's a small price to pay. Evil is clever, and used to trick us one way. It used to trick us with race. But now we have caught onto it, and have called it out for what it is. Evil used to trick us with religion. But now we have caught onto it, and have called it out for what it is. Now Evil is tricking us by disguising itself as insignificant. As women's rights. As convenient. As practical. As caring. As necessary. This is a lot harder to catch onto. In a sense, it is just like co-evolution, with evil and good evolving together in an eternal struggle. Just like diseases and animals. And just like those, just as many lives are at stake here.
Also... here is another site that I hope someone will look at. Although no one looked at/commented on the last one so...
http://www.priestsforlife.org/images/index.aspx