[BeyondBewildered]

It seems to me that mainly men are debating this, and it's a lot easier to say you'll "never kill potential human being" when you will never be in that position. So I'll offer a female point of view. To me, it isn't a question of how human an embryo is or what potential it has; it is a question of what rights I have over my own body. There is no other situation where people argue that a person should have to sacrifice a part of their body, even temporarily, to sustain another person's existence. We don't make bone marrow donations mandatory even though it would save many lives and much suffering. We don't force dead beat dads to give a kidney to the dying child they don't know. We don't do these things, because as a society, we do not take control over one person's body for the well being of another. Even if it's nice, good, moral, or otherwise the right thing to do.

So why shouldn't I have the right to empty my uterus, regardless of what unviable life form has taken up residence? There is no other situation where society would require a person to allow another to have priority over their body for nine months and risk thier own life to save another person, even if they are your own child. IMO, if the fetus isn't viable on it's own, I shouldn't be legally forced to sustain it. That is why I think partial birth abortion is murder. The fetus is viable outside of the womb and you have to literally kill it. Vacuum aspirations do not kill viable life forms. (And yes, I think that real human beings that cannot reasonably sustain life on their own don't have rights to live. By reasonable, I mean needing extreme medical care beyond medication, therapy, etc. Society should not have to bear the expense of keeping a vegetable breathing for years so we all feel fluffy about our reverance for life.)

90% of abortions are medical; there is no aspiration or anything invasive. You induce a miscarriage through pills. There is a similar process of terminating early pregnancies in thousands of cultures. I saw a documentary on the people of Vanuatu in which a husband spends they day gathering the materials and crafting an abortive herbal remedy. Then he and his wife discussed if they were sure and reaffirmed with each other that they were done having children. This isn't a new issue or something unique to the civilized world. Should this woman be forced to carry an unwanted child at an older age, without hospitals and doctors? If she shouldn't, why should I?

It seems that a lot of people have no idea how birth control works when they discuss what should grant an embryo human rights. It's an all or nothing deal when you take the human DNA=human stance. ALL forms of brith control work in multiple ways. The first is to prevent ovulation. The second is to prevent fertilization. The third is to prevent implantation. With all forms of hormonal birth control and IUDs, there is a chance, a very large chance actually, that conception will occur; the egg will be fertilized, cells will start to divide and an embryo with a complete set of human DNA will exist until it is unable to implant in the uterine lining and is shed with the woman's monthy cycle.

Additionally, birth control isn't a universal right that all women have. I've been through a few OBGYNs who have made decisions for my health based on their morality. It's quite common in some places to be unable to fill a birth control perscription if you are unmarried. The idea that a woman should have the baby because contraception failure means she is irresponsible is not as cut and dry as it seems when you actually have to deal with our medical system to avoid getting preggers.

So when people go on about DNA making a thing human, they are really calling for the recall of ALL forms of birth control except barrier methods like condoms and diaphragms. Women without children are not suitable candidtates for diaphragms, so there would be no form of birth control that the woman would be in control of. Essentially, you are saying that I should have no right to have sex unless I want to pump out babies non stop until I drop dead. That's the way it used to be, and it still is that way for many, many women. I'd like to keep my reproductive rights, thank you very much.