Well the matter of abortion is purely that of a value judgement i.e. a matter of when we ascribe personhood to a given organism. Personhood is when the state recognizes basic rights in an organism and protects such rights.
Now nobody is seriously arguing that the fetus is technically alive. A body organ, insects and cows are all alive. However that doesn't automatically give any of those things personhood.
Likewise having feelings is not sufficient to give a fetus rights. Cows for example have feelings but they don't have rights.
Also the matter of potential personhood is also insufficient. Mainly because its so arbitrary. Technically any cell(through cloning) or any sperm/egg is likewise a potential person, that doesn't give such things rights either though.
So what determines personhood? More or less approximation and conveniance. Like I said, it's a value judgement, a matter of purely how we feel about the subject(s) in question.
Deciding personhood is a tricky thing. To which deciding that personhood is attained at birth is the most efficient way of doing so. If after birth, then we have to decide when and there is possibility of abuse. If before birth, we are faced with the same problem. Those two things are hard to detect. But birth/nonbirth is not. There is also historical/legal precedence for this viewpoint, as so far in the US the only ways to become a citizen involve you either being born on US soil, from US citizens or imigrating. Attributing personhood at birth though would call for a revision to these standards.
If we decide personhood begins at birth, we are in a sense giving a fetus citizenship, in which case an immigrant need just come here to the US for example, and get pregnant and the fetus is already a US citizen. This may lead to rather messy affairs best avoided.
I personally don't really care about a fetus as much as I do the freedom of the woman who wants an abortion or the quality of life of such women. So I don't really care if it is terminated.
And this is merited by the fact that the fetus is similiar to an organ, has very little to no awareness(equivalent to a mouse or jellyfish I imagine), and that drawing the line for fundamental rights at birth is a very efficient way of establishing rights.
Having a baby one not of age can limit a female's oppurtunities. Messing up her future and creating social problems. It can also lead to increased sexism, as such women are usually reliant on men for economic support. As well as potential loss to civil liberties.
To elaborate on the civil liberties thing, when abortions were at one time illegal, a woman could actually be investigated by law enforcement for a miscarriage, as such a thing was a potential case of murder/manslaughter i.e. an abortion. That to me is a serious violation of privacy for a fetus.
But this brings up a good point. If we give basic personhood to a fetus, when do we do it? At conception? If so, is a miscarriage then a potential case of manslaughter or child neglect? Should the authorities take measures to protect a fetus, by detaining a mother who engages in high risk activities(drinking alchohol for example), just like they do every other citizen? Any other "child" or baby?
Also anti-abortion would lead to back alley abortions, which have a possibility of harming the mother.
Issues like, what if a woman dies in pregnancy, become more complicated. Because then you are no longer murdering a fetus to save a mother, but a person, with rights. You cannot just through rights away for conveniance. Nor can you just commit murder. Could a hospital that then, kills a fetus to save a women, be held accountable for murder?
Also having abortion would make sex a riskier business. I'm sure this is what many conservatives want as few of them believe in sex before marriage. However I, and I imagine the majority, do believe in it. Abortion then is the ultimate contraceptive, as it allows people to remove the fetus if prevention fails, or avoid preventive measures entirely.
Hence the value judgement comes down to this, freedom for men and women, social prosperity, legal efficiency, and safer sex vs the value of a fetus, no more intelligent then a gerbil.
The issue is not very hard for me, nor should it be very hard for anyone else.
