Speaking for the unborn vs. opposing abortion

I think fetal rights supporters have made some progress in the last few decades. I see this when a person who favours legalized abortion is emphatic in making it known that he wants to reduce the number of abortions, and castigates us mean pro-lifers for not wanting to, or not doing the things that would lead to fewer abortions.

What this signals to me is that pro-lifers have done a really good job in marketing the notion that abortion is a bad act. This has led to the mainstream feeling
that while abortion should be legal, it should be used sparingly, and only with a really good reason, because there are at least two sides to the story, and if the unborn child doesn't deserve equality, he deserves some kind of protection.

Great. We've convinced numerous people that abortion is a morally questionable act.

But have we done enough?

No.

We need to continue discussing the morality of abortion. But we need to inject at least on more notion in the public consciousness:

That of the equality of the unborn child.

Because as long as the focus is on an act, there will never be the necessary impetus to end abortion.

Consider: why is abortion not considered morally reprehensible enough to criminalize?

Answer: because the unborn child is not recognized as an equal. So long as the unborn child is viewed as a lesser human being, destroying him will be perceived as a "sin" less reprehensible than murder, if it's a sin at all.

The public discourse should begin to preach more about the equality of the unborn child, and how he deserves our love.

Just look at the situation in South Dakota. In order to make their point, pro-lifers there must discuss how abortion hurts women in order to win votes.

Not how abortion hurts unborn babies.

And while that discourse is valid, it says to me that the discourse on the unborn child has not progressed far enough. If the unborn child is still not considered an equal, then of course the votes must be won in some other fashion.

We should stress that while in theory the unborn child is said not to be a person, sociologically, he is a person. Because women who are pregnant and WANT their babies treat them as people.

ONLY when the unborn child is unwanted does he suddenly become a "product of conception".

If we can bring that cognitive dissonance to the fore of mainstream consciousness, we could make some progress on fetal rights, because people would logically have to choose accepting the personhood of unwanted babies, as well.