Very well thought out and factual writing Jacob.

Not a mention of religion though? Should humans whose religions basically forbid contraception have to forgo sexual pleasure and use the act purely as a means to procreate? We are human after all.

The scientific and legal arguments are great but this debate is so much more than that which can be boiled down to legalities and case law.

The question of what defines life must surely raise its head. Is life really a small clump of cells without any form of consciousness? If this definition is applied then let's ban bread as yeast is also a small clump of cells without discernable consciousness.

According to the information I found online, the brain does not even start to appear until week 5 and not until weeks 6 or 7 is it actually doing anything.
https://www.healthline.com/health/when-does-a-fetus-develop-a-brain

This has to be an important stage in the argument of the definition of 'life'.

I'm not really interested in the finer points of US Federal and State law, there is too much law and basing any decision on whether laws were broken or trampled upon in error or not is ridiculous in such an important human debate.

I notice very few (if any) women in this thread but it is they who ought to have the final say as it's their body and ultimately right to decide.

As for anyone, politician or anyone else who wants to ban all forms of abortion yet advocates the death penalty. I find that abhorrent. Life is life by definition not by action. Its just the definition that needs concensous.