First, like any other issue I do believe there are extremes on both ends. Many pro-choice abortion advocates believe pro-life advocates are out to blatantly destroy women's rights, when what the (hopefully most but at least some) pro-life advocates are really doing is acting on a genuine conviction that abortion is morally or sinfully wrong. Likewise, many pro-life advocates will have an attitude that pro-choice individuals are out to kill as many babies as they can and that every woman that gets an abortion is an immoral murderer who for whatever reason is absolutely into killing babies. While I don't know how there could ever really be a compromise between both extreme parties, I do believe it would do everyone a lot of good if there could be more understanding from both sides as to why both sides believe what they believe so strongly instead of immediately making the opposition an enemy.
As for my two cents, however, practicality and common sense steer me where it must and I can say strongly that I am with the pro-choice party on this issue. Here are the following reasons why:
1) The claim that abortion is murder has no actual basis to support it. It's easy to have an emotional reaction and immediately claim something is murder, but it's another thing to actually know what murder is and what causes something to be considered murder. Murder is, according to criminal law, the unjustified killing of one person by another (https://www.britannica.com/topic/murder-crime). It is also an unlawful killing of one person by another. This accords with common sense and everyday experience; we don't consider someone killing another person murder if it is in self-defense or for the defense of another person's life. Both the situation and overall context determine whether killing is murder or not, and the context is whether the killing was lawful and justifiable. One person killing another is not in and of itself automatically murder.
Generally you will find that killing is not murder when killing is the inherent consequence of another individual exercising their rights, for example when one individual kills another in self-defense because they are exercising their right to protect their life. Any rights the perpetrator would have had to live their life become irrelevant compared to another individual's right to protect theirs. It's the old adage "Your rights end where mine begins". The bottom line though is that we know for a fact there are times when one human killing another one is not considered murder because it is both lawful and because there is a justifiable reason for doing so. In regards to abortion it is both lawful and justifiable; lawful because, well, it's lawful, and justifiable because the woman is exercising her constitutional right to not be forced to do things with her body against her will. Simply killing the fetus does not automatically make abortion murder., the context must dictate it. Just like it is not murder if any individual is exercising their right to protect their life, it is not murder if a woman is exercising her right to not have another human body inside of her using her resources, potentially causing her medical problems, changing the physical state of her body, etc. Just like a grown man is not lawfully allowed to force a woman to do things with her body against her will, a fetus does not have the right to do things with the mother's body without her consent, and according to the constitution neither does the government. If the fetus dies as an inherent consequence of the mother exercising this right then it is not murder.
2) No matter how you cut it, someone's right are getting trumped. Due to the inherent nature of abortion, even if the fetus has any rights including a right to life these rights are in direct conflict with the rights of the mother. Whichever individual you pick, the fetus or the mother, someone's rights will be violated. It is my personal belief that it is ludicrous that a fetus who hasn't even had any life experience and will suffer no inconvenience from an abortion should have rights that trump a fully grown autonomous individual who is actively living in the world and can suffer permanent psychological or even physical damage or have the rest of their life negatively affected otherwise if they are forced to go through with the pregnancy. Since it has to be either the fetus's rights or the mother's, I am siding with the mother's rights out of common sense and respect for the dignity of the mother.
3) Abortion is a private medical decision. Pregnancy is something that drastically alters the composition of a woman's body. She has another individual in her using her resources, causing her pain and discomfort, etc. Abortion as a result is a medical decision and as such a woman has the right to do what she believes is medically best for her body. Not all reasons for abortion are inherently a medical reason, but nonetheless abortion is certainly a private medical issue because of how pregnancy affects a woman's body, and a woman should not be forced to make a private medical decision that so greatly affects her body.
These are my thoughts on abortion.
