Abortion! Isn't it interesting that one word can have such a profound effect?  Isn’t it interesting that one word can make people take time out of their busy lives to stop and read?  Isn’t it interesting that one word can intensify a situation, alienate two strangers, and make friends fight?  Isn’t it interesting how one word can change everything?
    One word has limitless potential to effect a situation.  The word abortion can evoke an emotional response, but there is one word that encompasses the entire abortion debate.  That word is life.  The protection of life is the fundamental purpose of the government.  Without life there is nothing, yet what is “life?”
     Unfortunately even the American government can’t decide whether a fetus is a person.  Killing a pregnant woman is a double homicide, yet an abortion isn’t a homicide.  They can’t even give a consistent decision.  The fetus inside a pregnant woman shouldn’t become defined as a victim simply because a third party does the killing.  The law should be universal whether it is the parents themselves, or some thug, who inflicts the killing. 
    Unless what constitutes life is determined first, all the opinions on abortion are just random babble that most of us have heard for our entire lives.“I’m pro-choice; I’m pro-life.” These labels mean absolutely nothing unless you can define when life begins.  The definition of life is the be-all-end-all of abortion debate.
    There are two definitions that are tenable: conception, and when the fetus can function by itself.  All other definitions are a weak compromise meant to be a common ground between the two parties. 
    The definition must be specified.  It doesn’t matter whether you come to the conclusion that life begins at conception or when the baby first breathes on its own.  If the thing inside you is alive, killing is wrong.  If it isn’t, removing it is a personal choice.  Once that definition is reached, there is no gray area.  If life begins at conception, then killing that baby is murder and should be punished accordingly. 
     If you define life at conception, there is little gray area.You can’t kill a person just because they remind you of a tragic event in your life.  It still is killing a person.  You can’t your kid just because they make your life difficult.  These are all statements that most would agree with, yet people seem to deviate from their definition when the child is in the womb.  If the baby is a person, it doesn’t matter whether the woman was raped.  It doesn’t matter whether the baby is mentally handicapped.  They are people who should come with all the same rights as any other individual on this earth.  
    Discrimination is a term that causes most people to shudder, but giving embryos only some of the rights of a person would be openly discriminating against people just because they don’t have a voice.  If fetuses are people, it is obvious that they should enjoy all the rights that the rest of American citizens get.      
    There is one exception.  People have a right to self-preservation when another person is putting them in serious danger, which is the case when a pregnancy puts a woman's life in danger.     
     If it is a question of personal choice, then aborting tissue inside a pregnant woman is a choice made by that woman.  It is her choice and she is the only one who should make it. The definition must be reached first.  After the definition of life exists, there is no ambiguity.  Some people believe early-term abortions are fine, but late-term abortions are wrong simply because the tissue inside the woman resembles a baby.  When does that baby become a baby?  Is it when he gets fingernails, fingers, or toes?  
    If it can’t survive on its own, it is no different than the moment it was conceived, but there is no clear spot to define life in between.  Fetuses are all dependent on being inside the mother to live.  They all are terminated by this procedure whether they exist as cells or an almost fully functional infant.  Just because something is more disgusting at one point than at another doesn’t make it any worse.  
           Sit down; think about it, where do you sit on the definition of life?  Hopefully, you will know and next time that emotional word, “abortion” comes up, you will be able to formulate a sensible opinion based on reasoning that you, not your parents, not your friends, have done for yourself.  One word has such an influence that it can change everything.