It appears I am in the minority here, but I'll come out and say it: I am absolutely, completely and unabashedly Pro-Choice. I have *many* reasons for believing so. Number one is moral. Silencing a woman on making a choice regarding her own body is cruel and unthinkable. If we take away one of our human rights, the right to choose, then what else can be taken away? Our families? Our words? Our actions, our feelings and thoughts and dreams? As long as I live, I will never allow myself or another person to have their RIGHTS, stripped away from them.
One thing majorly factoring into my belief is that embryos are not viable human beings. The vast majority of abortions take place within the first trimester, or very early into the second trimester, when fetuses have a 0% chance of surviving outside of the mother's body anyway. Before they are viable as a living, breathing, separate and complete entity, I do not believe they can be counted as a person. When most people envision abortion, they think of a bloodied-up baby about the size of a newborn, but that just doesn't happen - even though there aren't laws against abortion outright, there are laws forbidding an abortion after a certain amount of time has taken place during gestation (usually at some point in the third trimester, at which the fetus would have a chance of living outside the mother's body). So, being that I don't believe a newly developing embryo is in fact a person, I do not believe it is murder to have an abortion.
What enrages me beyond belief is everyone saying "You had sex, now deal with the consequences." First off, let's take the statement at face value and believe that everyone who wants an abortion had consensual sex in the first place (which obviously is not true). What, exactly, do you think would be accomplished by bringing an unwanted baby into the world? Do you think that once the baby is born, the parents fall in love with the baby and live happily ever after? 'Cause that will rarely happen in a case where the mother wants to abort but can't. The reality? The mother won't love this child, the mother won't care for this child. The child will either end up unloved and unhappy, or the child will die/be put into the social services system because of abandonment, malnourishment, etc.
Another possibility? The mother will turn abusive, seeing the child as a reason her life is now in ruins. Sad, and certainly not right, but very plausible and very real. Also? Everyone seems to have this idea in their heads that once you decide to adopt out your baby, the kid will go to a loving family and be taken care of and find a family. That? Doesn't always happen. Sometimes, a couple will bypass the system and take in a child they don't care for, either. Or the child will be bounced around from home to home in the foster care system. Or, in another case, the child will stay in an orphanage, never find a family, and age out of the system and turn out homeless or poor.
Now, that statement that came up before about consequences? Let me paint you a little picture. A girl, 12 or 13 maybe, is walking home from school and is raped. Or maybe she's molested by a family friend. Maybe she turns up pregnant. Maybe her family couldn't care for a child, or the innocent child's life would be risked if she were to carry out a pregnancy. What would you do? Let her die, because apparently she "made a choice" to be raped? Maybe she didn't cry out hard enough when she was attacked. Somehow, I doubt it. A victim gets victimized even further when forced to take care of and risk her own life because of a criminal act performed against her. That's not fair, that's not moral, and the way to avoid that girl's life being ruined or taken from her in that case would be abortion. "Murder" the undeveloped cluster of cells in her uterus, or really and truly murder a scared human being with emotions and a future that she can see?
I've gone too far into this already, obviously this is a cause I'm heavily invested in. Hopefully this will have enlightened someone.