Good thoughts!

It's appreciate you bringing up the issue, and I think you're focusing on exactly the right question, "Is abortion murder?"

When pro-choice people talk about a woman's right to choose, they are implicitly saying that abortion is not murder, but that's exactly the issue that pro-lifers are in fundamental disagreement with. So tricky.

Maybe with time neuroscience will progress to the point where we can understand consciousness enough to have a data-driven opinion, but it seems the scientific consensus so far on the matter is:

• There is no absolute moment in time where a baby goes from unconscious to conscious (This makes it hard to legislate). It's more like "waking up" than flipping a switch.
• Each baby is different, and babies develop at different rates, so if we are going to legislate it, we should try to think of a way to address the diversity of development rates.

So in the meantime, while we try to solve the consciousness problem, I think it makes sense that we try to avoid unnecessary abortions, but it also makes sense to keep it legal so that if it comes down to it, women can have the procedure done in a safe and regulated environment.