Should abortion be legal?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should abortion be legal?
Position‹3 of 3: Abortion should be illegal.
Argument‹3 of 6›: A foetus is a person

A fetus is a living being and thus abortions are a form of murder.

The argument

Murdering a person is a crime. There is no difference between killing a fetus in the womb and killing a child. By taking away their life, you are committing murder. At the moment of conception, a unique genetic identity is created. This genetic identity will accompany the fetus throughout its life. Aborting a child erases this code. It is clear, therefore, that aborting a child is tantamount to murder.

Premises

[P1]At the moment of conception a unique genetic identity is created that accompanies the fetus throughout its life. [P2] There is no morally relevant difference between killing a fetus in the womb and killing a born child. [P3] Since murdering a person is a crime, aborting a fetus that already has its own identity is tantamount to murder. [C] Therefore, because a foetus is a person, abortion should be illegal.

Counter-arguments

A fetus is not a person. It is a fetus. It is an extension of the mother. It cannot live outside the womb or independently of its mother. Therefore, it is not a human or a person. It is a part of the mother. Aborting it is no more murder than a woman having a mole removed or getting a haircut.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] A foetus is not a person at conception. It becomes a person later. [Rejecting P3] Killing a foetus is not always wrong. When it saves the mother's life it is necessary.

Proponents cited

Mitt Romney
“When you create this clone, when you take the nucleus of a skin cell of a male and put it in an egg of the female, do you at that point have life?...And they said, 'No question, it is life. Once you put these together, you have life.' That's all I need to know for when the definition of when human life begins.”
Marco Rubio
“The science is settled, it's not even a consensus, it is a unanimity, that human life beings at conception.”
Dr. Jerome Lejeune
“The genetic makeup of a human being is complete from the moment of fertilization: Not a single scientist doubts it... If a human being is a half-inch long, does she deserve respect? If she is 20 inches long, does she deserve 40 times more? People who use years and pounds to quantify the respect due to another human being are not well intentioned.”
Mike Moon
“I believe when we’re talking about a human life, how barbaric is it to consider snuffing out a human life before it has a chance to breathe on its own?”