[quote name='UncleBob']Okay - for those who don't think a fetus is a life (which includes me), why, exactly is an abortion bad?
A fetus is just a lump of cells - why is it different than clipping off a toenail?[/QUOTE]
Ugh I clicked the wrong forum and unfortunately decided to browse this thread, but c'mon, the answer to your question is obvious: A toenail is a lump of keratin. A fetus is a lump of cells that has the potential to be birthed and function on its own as an independent organism, whether or not you think life begins once the fetus is birthed or some point before that or at conception or at jerking off.
Dumbing it down to that kind of level of questioning is just feigning ignorance of what sexual production of mammals is about. You might not count it as a "life," but at X number of weeks (don't remember off the top of my head, I think its roughly around 3 months?) you could theoretically remove it from the mother and it will be developed enough to survive prematurely (with a lot of assistance from modern medical science). Then that "lump of cells" is suddenly a life, with the only difference being that it is outside a womb rather than in it.
That's why its simplest, legally speaking, if the fetus is pre-viability it can be aborted with ease. After viability is reached you have to think about things and the mother's decision not make up her mind in those X number of weeks. Yeah, there are a lot of social and societal strains on the decision at that point, but at the same time, you've already committed to letting offspring grow in your stomach to the point of viability, which should count for something (putting aside instances of rape and harm to the mother). What that counts for is obviously open for heavy debate and there are so many different considerations to be had and possibly balanced.
I think it would help tremendously if as a nation/society we changed our attitudes about sex and contraception though and stopped making everything so taboo and "wrong." It's time to hit teenagers hard with the realities of sex and biology. Abstinence only doesn't cut it. But information about contraception is half assing it without lessons in responsibility. It's time to teach about personal responsibility, not only about sex but about life in general (because it seems like many Americans would benefit from learning about something like, say, budgeting - especially the consequences of budgeting whether its going to be for a family or for finding the money for an abortion.) Of course all of this requires heavy education reform, which is up shit creek itself. And that education reform also heavily ties into our failing criminal justice system for certain segments of society. Not to mention how marred our education system is by political bickering. Plus religious beliefs are somehow finding a way to edge out science and reason in the 21st century.
And as far as birth control goes, it's time for the FDA and Congress to stop screwing around with Big Pharma and to start approving tests for things like the reversible injection that is long term birth control for men. (Big Pharma wants to develop pills because if you're popping pills every day you're giving them more money than you would for a one time procedure.) People fear STDs would rise rapidly, which I think they probably would, but that's why you also teach about personal responsibility and wrapping your dick even if barrier-birth-control isn't in play. The kind of birth control that is possible for men would just be another layer of protection.
You can read more about it here.
If we could become more socially responsible and intelligent as a society, maybe we could cut off a lot of the behavior that ends up in situations where someone is pondering abortion in the first place. It will never be full proof or perfect but I think it might go a long way. It of course feels like it would be impossible to reach given all of the shit that lies between reaching it.