Objectivist ethics is a morality of rational self-interest—or of rational selfishness.
To most rational women an unplanned pregnancy is nothing short of a disaster, and it is a woman’s right to life and selfishness, as in – her fundamental right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness that she has as a human being, that gives her the right to terminate that pregnancy, if it is in her own best interest or desire to do so. It is her own right to life to make this decision, and phrases such as “right to life” are hypocritical when used by anti-abortion activists, who simply don’t deserve to be called “pro-life”. In reality, they are anti-life. A woman has a right to her own life, which is sacred only to living beings, not potential beings. The rights of a woman are tragically and heinously ignored by anti-abortion activists, which at its root is one of the biggest issues here. It is the actual living person who counts, not the potential of an embryo. Claiming that an embryo has a right to life over that of the woman is hideous nonsense.
To objectively observe the issue of abortion one must define what constitutes a human life, and not get that confused with what is surely only the potential of life. In its earliest stages, an embryo is essentially a small growth of cells which do not constitute an individual. This tiny cluster of cells is not physically individual from the mother, and further, a woman is not obligated to that cluster of cells over her own desires for her own life that has already begun. To some women, that cluster of cells may as well be cancerous, and who has the gall to tell that woman to let it grow?
The attitude of the anti-abortionist is simple: “To hell with the individual lives of women! Give up your God-given rights and the pursuit of your own happiness for this embryo that is only the potential of a person. Forget your finances, your mental and physical health, your goals and dreams for yourself. You don’t matter anymore. The cluster of cells is more important than your actual, real, existing life”. Anything that threatens the ideal fulfillment of a person’s life, their desires, their goals, dreams, their own selfishness, should be discarded. If something hinders or threatens an individual’s life, or does nothing to further that individuals life or happiness, it is not good and should not forcibly be pursued.