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This tumor vs. fetus, fetus vs. teenager thing is a slippery slope. It could lead to accusations of murder in reference to geriatric medicine. It is related to such claims as: Exposing your children to second-hand smoke is child abuse.
It's hard to keep our bearings when we are so opposed to the essential idea here. On one hand, some of you would say they are fine with abortion, as it is a humane enough way to terminate a pregnancy with little suffering. On the other hand, others say life is sacred, and deciding on an abortion is a decision to destroy a life. Whether this is akin to murder is beside the point. Ultimately, what is at issue here is how we each view life: How it comes about, how it develops, how it ends--how we should or should not control it. It is hard to say who is right and who is wrong.
But I think the important thing is to try our best to understand where we are each coming from. There is little point trying to change one another's minds, as they could very well be set in stone, as it were.
I don't think there is any blanket solution to this issue. It is something that is based on individual experience and circumstances.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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