PJC, I might ask you some more questions later in private messages, if that's ok with you, but I don't want to get into a Christian-based theological discussion too far in the open on here out of respect for our Jewish members. I like to learn about how different people believe.
Aryeh, I do believe that if a woman decides to have an abortion, that she has murdered her baby. However I think a lot of times there is coercion involved, from family, boyfriends, doctors, etc. that also has to be taken into account. Abortions are sometimes performed on 12 year old girls for example, who aren't able to really make a medical choice like that on their own behalf without "help".
There's no need to post abortion pictures because I've seen them and I feel horrified, the same way you do. I am pro-life and I think abortion is murder.
I saw this story on Youtube. I don't want to go searching for it again because to find that video I'd have to see still images of other videos that are a little too graphic for my tastes. Anyway the story was about this woman and her husband. They were expecting a baby and were very happy. They're both Christians, so they don't believe in abortion. The mom went in for an exam, and instead of healthy and normal, an anomaly was found.
After further testing, they were told the bad news, their baby was anencephalic. They told the mom that the baby would have no cerebral cortex (the part of your brain that you think and sense with) and would die shortly after birth if allowed to be born. They immediately began asking her when she wanted to schedule the abortion. When she told them that she didn't want the abortion, then the medical personnel became angry and frustrated with her, telling her how stupid she was. They even became abusive, telling her how "hideous" anencephalic babies are. Who tells a mother that her baby is hideous? Horrible people. This is actually true many times, but if you see some pictures beforehand, you could prepare yourself somewhat even if not completely.
Any time she tried to get any kind of prenatal care doctors were unhelpful and abusive to her, but she kept right on with her pregnancy anyway. She gave birth to a little boy that actually wasn't very hideous, he just had the top of his head open. The mother said that the baby DID have a small amount of cortex, that she could see it through his skull. She was able to hold him for a few hours and they took pictures with him with a little hat on his head. This was the right thing to do, to give this little one all the life that God intended for him, even if it was just a few hours outside the womb in the arms of his mother and father.
This was a strong, devoutly Christian family however. Many other people might not have been able to handle the abuse and would question themselves so severely when every doctor was telling them how stupid they were to let their baby live. This couple came under tremendous pressure, and many times insurance companies get involved, sometimes offering to cover an abortion but not the birth, etc. I think in some cases the doctors are more to blame than the mother.
Here's another real story, about a woman who was lied to by a doctor, and told that the baby posed an immediate risk to her life, when it did not. The doctor just wanted to abort the baby and thought he knew better than the parents did:
http://realchoice.0catch.com/library/weekly/aa040700a.htm