I don't have a clear position on this either. I am an atheist, so the moral objections of religious type on this subject do not go with me and I do not agree that it is 100% a matter of "my body my choice" because if we consider that in your body you carry a life it is no longer a matter of your own.
I also see hypocrisy in this on the part of conservative and religious people, because they are against abortion but, historically, there have been quite a few cases where they took their daughter to have an abortion in a place where it was legal, or even illegal, for getting pregnant before marriage. And let alone if the one who got her pregnant was black or someone not well regarded in their social circle. All this while defending the prohibition of abortion. I guess they then go to mass, go to confession and feel free of sin.
What I think is clear is the crux of the matter is where human life begins, and there I think we will never reach a consensus, because I do not think there is a line where one second before we can say that there is no life and one second after that life has already begun.
- Give arguments for why abortion is not murder even in the 2nd trimester (eg. data on brain development).
The cortex does not develop until between 24 and 26 weeks (the lower range of which also happens to be the limit of viability). The cortex is responsible for consciousness, for thought, for feeling, for sensation, for pain. Without a cortex, none of these things are possible. Therefore, before 24 weeks, you do not have a life, but simply a collection of cells and tissues.
Although the scientific definition is a good way to try to establish a criterion to decide whether it is a life or not, I don't think it is the solution either. The cortex will develop in those weeks but the consciousness of self, that I am here and I am something different from the rest, that I exist, does not appear until months after birth, and, on the other hand, what do we do with those who want to abort after the 27th week? Do we also prohibit it? I am thinking of a young girl who has not told her parents because of reason, shame, etc. Do we forbid it and if she has an abortion, do we call her a murderer? And the young girl is not the only case I could give as an example.
If a parent, man or woman, decides they don't want a child 1 month into it's life citing they're "unwanted" or that raising a child might be "lengthy," would it be acceptable for that man or woman to end the child's life for their own convenience?
Obviously not, and constructing such a ridiculous strawman only weakens your position.
I don't think it's a straw man argument. I do believe that in the debate no one raises the question of killing a child once it is born, but there are radical feminist positions that defend that abortion should be free until an instant before birth, then, he speaks of one month, but I propose to consider the argument of one day: to kill a baby one day before birth is an abortion and one day after is a murder? I don't see a line there, as I said before, I see more of a continuum on which it will be difficult to agree.