Thanks to those members who responded to my post! I found thor's response to be a tad cynical [

] - thor, please don't take it any other way - and CheleK's response to be along lines that I felt dodged the issue! Lest my queries sound too metaphysical or out-of-the-blue, please allow me to describe in brief (hopefully) how I was led to the question on abortion.
A couple of days ago, I happened to read a small book, titled "The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra" by Thich Nhat Hanh, that dealt with 'Dependent Arising'. Toward the end of the book, I had the most amazing and soothing feeling (understanding?) when I felt I "understood" how Emptiness and Dependent Arising followed from one another, and the accompanying sensation(?) was one of great relief and subtle joy, realizing that there is no "I" that was going to die! The book also touched on the topic of The Five Aggregates (Skandhas) stating what the Buddha himself had mentioned: any one of forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness cannot exist without the others, i.e. each of them is Empty. With the above in mind, I was naturally led to the question, "Does a fetus have consciousness?" If yes, then all the other aggregates must also be present in the fetus, which in turn would imply that it would be highly improper (if not immoral) to abort any fetus at all. If no, then perhaps the fetus doesn't enjoy the same rights as humans or other living animals, which would mean it should be perfectly okay to abort fetuses!
As you may see, my motivation in pursuing the abortion issue arose from my contemplation of Dependent Arising and Emptiness. Any political or metaphysical perspective on this issue is the least of my concern.
(to be contd.)