Atheists, the death penalty and abortion...

[EGross]

And why should anyone have a moral objection against a woman's choice for abortion if a fetus isn't a baby?

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have been about owning and controlling women. As you noted, it is about a woman's choice that a "moral objection" is raised. And the objection is a religious one more than a moral one.

For example, in Judaism, a fetus, even as the woman is going into contractions, is not a living thing in and of itself, and so if it never exits and exists for a specified period of time on it's own, it was never alive. For a living person, the death would require sitting shiva. For one that was never alive, there is no such requirement, which is the case.

And yet, despite this, the dogma behind it puts pressure on the woman to keep it, even if there will be great hardship because of the other 10 kids who are living at home and the unemployed father.

So it is not really about definiing the fetus as a living independant being, it really is about "What would God want?" Even if there are those, like catfish, who will deny any religious reason, it is an issue driven by the religous to force their dogma, and so if the intent is not there, it is still driven by religious forces. And as an athiest, I see that statement as controlling. And in the USA, the Religious Right act like every woman, if left unfettered, would be getting abortions 2 or 3 times a year.

Based on my experience of 2 women that I have known who have done this, one, decades later, still regrets it, and the other took years just to talk about it. It is not a choice made lightly, but despite the dogma that "God doesn't like that", it is still her choice in many countries, albeit, a choice that women still need to fight for, even if they will never choose to do so.