At the moment of conception a sperm penetrates an egg thereby fertilizing the egg. At that moment the genetic make-up of that baby is complete. At that very moment the fertilized egg, or zygote, is no longer just a cell or clump of cells from just the mother or just the father. It is no longer just “a part” of the mother or the father. That zygote is now a living entity (or being) that is separate and apart (identifiably by the newly created genetic makeup) from both parents and dependent on the mother for nourishment and space to grow. It is not the mother or her body. It is a human “being” at the earliest and most vulnerable stage of life. At that stage its form may be described as a few cells but its substance is pure human. It is a ‘being” and it is human. Fact via logic.

(FYI: 9 days after conception blood begins to flow. 19 days after conception the heart begins to beat. 35 days after conception tiny arm and legs begin to grow.)

We live in an era of unprecedented consumerism that has most people equating “freedom” with choice. The Founding Fathers of America intended for our freedom to be based in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Freedom is not based in choice carte blanche.

When you cloak the termination of the life of this ‘being’ with the illusion of “choice” you open the floodgates of emotion because it is considered by the disillusioned to be a direct assault on what they perceive to be their freedom. As Americans, freedom is our most precious asset so if what we perceive to be our freedom is under attack there will necessarily be a rush to defend this “choice” or, due to its legality, what most pro-choice women consider their “right.”

Giving a woman the “right” to have an abortion is logically equivalent to giving a taxi driver the “right” to kill a person who jumped in his cab, even though his “Not in Service” light was on, because he doesn’t want to be bothered with the time, effort and inconvenience of taking the passenger where he needs to go. When a “passenger” shows up in a mother’s womb you can’t just ask them to get out.

I am not going to approach issues of incest, rape or potential death of the mother. These are exceptions to the rule and need to be addressed on an individual basis. Abortion, in and of itself, is the premeditated murder of another human being and it is wrong. Any argument to the contrary is illogical and nonsensical.

Some people hold median positions between the pro-life and pro-abortion camps, but as you imply, none of these positions are intellectually honest. Either the fetus is a life in which it must be protected, or it’s not, in which case, who cares what is done to it at any point.

While we have to convince people of the pro-life side, what we must also do is work to pass any legislation that in any way curbs abortion no matter how piecemeal. Whether it’s parental notification, partial birth abortion or full blown outlawing it except in the case of rape or incest anything must be passed. As with the story of the camel’s nose in the tent, you can accomplish a lot by gradually implementing it.

One note: not to sound callous but you left out that we have numbers on our side: by definition, since the Left supports abortion, they tend to use it more than the Right. And since the greatest determining factor of your beliefs is what your parents believed, we will always have momentum on our side.