abaya

Interesting distinction. This reminds of debates in church (when I used to go to church) about baptism... some churches want to do infant baptism, before the child can even decide for itself what it wants. Other churches insist that the child is of an age that it can decide for itself. I got both, heh... and then walked away from it all! (I guess people shouldn't be baptised twice, or they'll turn to the dark side.)

However, of interest here is why you draw the line of moral significance at autonomy and the ability to communicate. This pretty much excludes infants/toddlers who have not yet learned to speak, let alone self-actualize (which takes a couple more years) and express their "decisions." Does this mean you consider non-autonomous people who cannot communicate as being non-significant (regardless of whether or not they are in the womb, since you don't make that distinction)? How about a child who is born premature, even several months premature? Since it would die outside of an incubator (artificial womb), does that make it morally insignificant as well?

(Just testing your logic... I don't really care to get picky about abortion, but this is a gaping hole in your argument and I think you ought to modify your statement, at least for the hawks on this thread.)

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran