Recently, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney found it hard to answer a question that asked, "Is abortion murder." There is a lot of concern over whether Romney is truly pro-life or not, and while I can't answer that question, I can say that he was absolutely right not to label abortion as murder.
I'm not speaking from a political point of view - where he just wants to get the most votes and doesn't want to alienate anyone. I'm not even speaking from a legal point of view - where abortion is legal and therefore cannot technically be considered murder. Plainly speaking, abortion is not murder. As the governor said, however, abortion is the taking of a human life.
The word "murder" does not quantify the death of the baby. Instead, the word "murder" accuses the person involved in the abortion. Therefore, saying that abortion is murder is calling women who have abortion "murderers." Being a murderer means that you have malice aforethought. Very rarely (if ever) would I say that women who get abortions have malice toward these babies. Sure, once in awhile you may come across a bitter woman with psychological issues who actively hates the child and wants it killed, but usually abortion is done as a last resort, hesitantly. It is not rejoiced over. Abortion is not murder in this case.
Abortion is the act of ending a human life. Abortion is not murder.
