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I don't believe in the soul, but I do understand that not only does human life have worth, but to take that life is murder. So I suppose I fit into the moral/ethical side of the equation, but not the religious/spiritual side. I wonder if that makes me unique in the "pro-life" crowd.
Anyway, when I ask myself if abortion should be allowed I have to consider what it means to be alive. I consulted philosophers and found them all to be windbags, so I decided it should be simple: a human being is alive if they are in a state where they can metabolize, reproduce, grow, and respond to stimuli. Since babies can't reproduce, that suggests that if at any point in the life cycle of an organism it can reproduce, it's alive. A fetus can metabolize, grow, and respond to stimuli, therefore it's alive in a broad scientific sense. It has exactly nothing to do with biblical notions or political whatever, it's simple reason based on established definitions.
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