Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being. Animals have nothing to do with it at all, or else every lioness who brought down a gazelle should be charged for murder.

Only the most callous individuals would say that life only begins if and when a baby is allowed to take a breath. A baby in the womb at 40 weeks is qualitatively no different than one that was born at 39 weeks, for example. Even at 26 weeks, the baby is more likely than not to survive outside the womb due to modern medical advances. Clearly, if someone came into the neo-natal ward and murdered that baby at 27 weeks (a week after premature birth), he would be charged with murder.

The issue is therefore where we draw an arbitrary line about where life begins. Cannoli is erring on the side of caution and saying, "Once the egg is fertilized, the process has begun and life has been created. That new fertilized egg has a DNA makeup distinct from the DNA makeup of the mother and it is growing, which essentially means it is life." That's a reasonable position to take. We have to recognize that any line we draw will be completely arbitrary other than that one line, which is the only "bright line" prior to birth.

Having said that, I'm not in favor of banning all abortions. I think that after 12 weeks they should be limited to legitimate medical concerns regarding the mother's health or severe birth defects (such as hydrocephaly or microcephaly), but there's nothing wrong with Cannoli's position.