Seems kind of arrogant to suggest that your perspective is the only valid one, and that any others are simply justifications.
I thought I agreed with you (as well) that people use all those things you posed as justifications. "It's only a mass of cells" is justification (make people feel better about it) taking the life. As I see it, there are a number of justifications for taking a life. Self defense (that's what abortion is to me), policeman fired upon shoots back, soldiers at war, assisted suicide, and so on. I should have added execution for capital crimes.
My view, btw, is based upon law. In Roe v. Wade, the court ruled based upon viability of prenatal life, dividing pregnancy into trimesters. Each successive trimester, the state was given more power to regulate or deny abortions. As medicine has improved the viability of the fetus outside the womb from 28 weeks to 24 weeks, the courts have adjusted accordingly. In a recent well publicized case, Scott Peterson was accused of murdering both his wife and unborn son. So the fetus is a life after all. In Roe, the court found a 14th amendment right to privacy to justify a woman's right to choose. Some justices to this day do not see this right to privacy in the 14th. However, it's common sense, and in the spirit of Liberty, that each of us (including women!) have the right to their own selves (bodies). I'd also think that the ending of slavery would mean everyone has a right to "own" themselves vs. being owned by someone else (a fetus). To expand on my own view from there: The fetus and woman have claims to the woman's body. The woman must prevail due to the privacy right. It's really a slam dunk. As far as the constitution goes, "no person shall be deprived of LIFE, Liberty or Property without due process," and Roe is the due process.
Since every baby invades his mother's privacy by being inside her, a warrant for every baby's arrest should be issued when the doctor discovers the mother is pregnant. A police officer should be posted outside her home to deter her from absconding with him to Mexico. Upon birth in the hospital, the baby should be taken into custody before he can take flight and hide on the oncology floor.
