Would Pro-Lifers do better if they started arguing on secular human rights grounds rather than on religous?

Answer 1

Absolutely, if they argued from the basis of actual biology and from the law rather than religious hysteria. I'd certainly listen to them if they did.

But if their position is "God Says So", you can't really debate the issues whatsoever, because their minds are closed.

Answer 2

I think that the abortion issue isn't a religious issue, but rather a privacy issue.
I believe that we Americans have the right to personal privacy with regard to health care, and the government has no business interfering with it.
That being said, I believe that pregnancy interruption for any reason other than the preservation of the life of the mother is murder, and if it is done to protect the life of the mother, then it is self defence.
If abortion is to be regulated at all, it has to be under the standards of practice that are required of any doctor.
I believe that these standards of practice, which are required for any proceedure would also apply to abortion criteria, always considering the welfare of 2 patients, and should be policed by the medical profession.

It makes no sense to apply human rights issues to an issue which deny's the humanity of a fetus. They don't apply.
This is a biology issue.
Spltting hairs as to what constitutes humanity is better left to the scientists.

When I was pregnant, there was a baby.
When a woman has a miscarriage, she doesn't lose "the products of conception", or the fetus, she loses a baby.
When most women are pregnant, there is a baby. I have never heard, in my 10 years of working in Labor and Delivery, any woman refering to the contents of her uterus as anything but a baby.
Instinctivly, we know it's a baby.
The question here seems to be more properly, is a baby human?

If in fact, a baby is human, then it has all the human rights that any of us have, regardless of it's age.

Anything else is just a rationalization in order to justify genocide.

Answer 3

yes, you can't say "life begins at conception", and be expected to be taken seriously, just because it is your opinion, that you acquire from faith-based belief.

Answer 4

yes