How are we not supposed to balk at this?
Well first off by reading all of what I said. Why is it so hard to look at something from another perspective. I am not asking for agreement, but a little understanding goes a long way.
This statement instantly devalues for me everything else that you have to say on the subject with respect to how it relates to whether or not abortion is murder.
This statement confuses me. In fact, I don't know that it says anything. There is no argument here about whether or not abortion is murder. I took that off the table for obvious reasons. The only pertinent fact is that what abortion opponents believe: abortion ends an innocent human life.
(Though I did it, I actually do not like to abuse the term "murder" when discussing abortion with those who are for abortion. It carries a connotation that there is malicious intent, and I do not believe that.)
Let me ask you this though: how would you feel about abortion, hypothetically, if you believed that it wasn't murder? I can tell you how I would feel if I believed abortion was murder, as I'm sure anyone else could, and that is that that abortion is wrong and should not be done.
Ok, so you DO balk at what I say, and then go on to state that you actually understand why a person with such beliefs would have a problem with abortion.
Anyway the question you pose is both easy and difficult to answer. The obvious answer is that if I didn't think abortion was wrong, then I should not have a problem with it. Removing the moral issue makes it much simpler, but not cut and dried simple. Women who get abortions still deal with a lot of emotional stress related to having done it. Then there are the physical issues. I don't think it's a good or neutral procedure. I think it has the potential to be harmful. But with the moral question out of the way it would not be a major issue to me.
However, abortion is not murder, as a fetus is not a living human being, or any thing that can be murdered at all, so that point is moot.
This is your view, and it is shared by many people. But I do not believe that those who believe it, believe it as much as they think they believe it, or want to believe it. I know, this is very presumptuous of me, but it's what I think.
I think having a child that you don't want, feel ruins your future, and you don't love and won't properly take care of is a pretty good reason to have an abortion, just as much for the potential child as for the parents.
I can understand this from a theoretical standpoint, regarding the justification for abortion, obviously before the child is born. But in the real world, people who have children, even initially unplanned and unwanted children, love them and take care of them to the best of their abilities. Yes, abilities vary, but abilities do not depend on the wantedness of the baby. I do not buy the "unwanted child" line.