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Nicely put, but it still doesn't explain why it is a right, other than just saying it is one, and thats that.
Man has created legal rights (just, legal, or moral claim or power). Since an abortion is legal at this time, it is a legal right.
Consenting to sex doesn't change that law. This is what our culture has become. We want to control our environment, and our reproduction. If we choose to have children, we have the ability to have them on our timetable. If we wait too long to have children, we have the ability to control that also (if one can afford it).
Now is it a natural right (if that's even possible), no. I say that because without the manmade medical capabilities that we have, abortion would not be under our control.
But today, in my state, I have the right to have consentual sex with the full knowledge that I don't want to get pregnant. I have the right to take precautions to prevent pregnancy and still have consentual sex. Should those precautions fail, I have the right to keep the baby, give the baby away, or terminate the pregnancy.
Now some may consider it unconscionable for a person to consent to sex knowing that they would opt for abortion should a pregnancy occur or, in the case of a man, know they can't support or won't willingly support a child.
So while people may not feel it is right, it is a right.
"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz
™ Version 4.2
