Murder, by my definition at least, is done out of malicious intent. Now you could consider a planned abortion as having malicious intent but the reality is that no one in their right mind views the procedure as some sort of holiday or party. No one wants to go about killing things for funsies. Is it killing something? Yes. Is it murder? Again, I think it's too complicated an issue to label it 100% as such.
I don't know. You got people "shouting" their abortions now, so I can't answer whether or not some mothers did have malicious intent. That being said, Homicide only requires intent to commit the act in most jurisdictions, not necessarily malice. The only thing that determines the level of homicide (first, second, or third degree) is things like whether or not the premeditated, committed in the heat of the moment, etc. Manslaughter is when you kill someone without the intent to do so and can be held fully culpable for their deaths, though it wasn't your intention. Abortion, if illegal, would be homicide because their is clear intent there to commit the crime.
Now everyone has different perspectives and that's fine. What you view as wrong, another person could have a completely neutral response. What I'm getting at is that unless you are the one making the decision, you don't know with complete clarity the ethics or sacrifices or even the morals of the situation. And sure, you could say that you've never had to experience such a thing and never will. It's easy to do that when it isn't on you. But when it's your sister, sister in law, cousin, neighbor, co-worker, or other women that you know personally, it's a lot harder to call them a murderer based on what you know about what they're going through.
Murder is murder; the individual circumstances will only determine its degree, but its still murder. If you shoot someone, whether by accident, or on purpose, whether you planned to do it or not, whether it was a crime of passion or not, its still you killing someone, and you will get arrested and charged with either manslaughter or murder. There are very few mitigating circumstances that would prevent you from being held fully accountable. If my mother shot a man in the back when she wasn't in danger, I would say she is a murderer. Its not about whether or not I personally know them; its about the act itself.
I don't think people who have had abortions are bad people. Or that they're condemned to Hell for their actions or whatever you believe in. I think everyone's scared and sometimes, the situation is out of their control based on the results. Sure, there are lots of awful people that have abortions for purely selfish reasons. But when there's others out there that are trying to spare themselves a cruel, miserable fate for the sake of themselves and the unborn child, I don't fault them for taking action.
Crimes in general are always tragic. But that doesn't mean that we should avoid holding people accountable for their actions. The fact is, that unless you are having an abortion for things outside of your control (Rape, incest, to save your life), you made a conscious decision to put yourself in the position to even consider an abortion. That was your decision. And to have an abortion, to commit that act, is also your decision, and everyone, including me and you, should be held accountable for their decisions.
The reality is that none of us will ever know what it's like until it's our turn to decide. And until then, it's honestly not in our place to demonize others without knowing their reasons why.
I can criticize people for a lot things that I would not do and have not done or been in a position to do, like murder or rape someone. Abortion is just one more thing to add to the list.
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