Do at least 85-90% of antiabortionists actually believe that abortion is

[TJ in Oregon]

Actually, yes I do think so. I can certainly see where this becomes an issue since much fewer people would support charging a mother with murder for aborting her child than would support outlawing abortion. But I think that has more to do with emotional sympathy for the mother than it does not really believing it's a child. They often view her as some sort of co-victim with the doctor who "talked her into it" as the real murderer. Or they see legal punishment only as a way to prevent future crime or rehabilitate offenders and don't think charging the women with murder would actually help. It probably also matters that they don't feal a sense of fear toward mothers who've had an abortion compared to other murderers. Most people have already been born so they personally have nothing to be afraid of on this front. A desire for harsh punishment is often driven as much by fear as it is by anger or revulsion.

I also think you missed an important camp in the abortion debate: those unconcerned with arguments of personhood but oppose abortion based on the thought that their parents could have aborted them. This can trigger somewhat of an emotional response and wouldn't likely result in harsh punishments for the mother.

[TJ in Oregon]

Oh I totally support charging abortionists with murder. I was just explaining why many pro-lifers don't. I'm not saying that argument makes sense, just throwing it out there for how a lot of people think. A lot of what a lot of people think doesn't completely make sense.

I completely agree that a person is a person, but that would involve removing emotion from our justice system and trying people based only on the things they do and not on how society feels about them. We always have strange double-standards in our judicial system and we probably always will.

[TJ in Oregon]

I suppose it could if that happened but it's pretty far away from what happens in most abortions. On that note, they do often charge people for murder if someone kills a fetus without the mother's consent or for double-homocide if the pregnant mother is murdered. Another emotional double-standard.

[TJ in Oregon]

...but the emotional effect could go the other way if all the sudden we are dealin with a new class of child murderers. What if you were punched in the stomach when pregnant?

I've heard jokes about punching a girl in the stomach after hypothetical sex and it sickens me.

I'm pro-choice and I find it offensive.

Why? Is it because harming the fetus goes against the mother's wishes? Or is it because of some utilitarian reason? I've never really understood why pro-choice people are offended by such things.