Genetic structure is distinguishable, true.
As you clearly say, "DNA is not human life" and I agree. So the DNA which is the basis of the fetus is not a human being. It is a potential human being, in the same way a fertilized egg is a potential chicken. Yet, an egg is not a chicken, fertilized or not. It can become a chicken when it hatches, and can survive outside of the egg. This transitional period between pure potential and fully realized potential in actuality following birth is a very gray area.
DNA exists prior to, and after the human life ends.
So, clearly human life is something different than and more than the DNA itself.
There is a saying, that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Human life is like that. What human life is, as mysterious as it is to define, this thing we call human life extends beyond the sum of the DNA and genetic structure itself.
Some label human life certain levels of brain activity, others say it is human consciousness, some say soul, but it is scientifically very difficult to pin down what exactly human life is before the time of birth. We know clearly when human life is gone upon death, but while it is with us it is a mystery that science hasn't solved, and pre birth is even less clear.
The question is, and the important and central question is what exactly determines a human life as different from the collection of parts?
Was Mary Shelly's monster in Frankenstein a human life because it had DNA and was a collection of parts?
If science learns to create an artificial womb, creating a human life completely in the lab, is that the same as the human life born from a woman?
If you had your internal organs replaced with those from different DNA, would you be experiencing more or less of human life? Would your true individuality be different due to the introduction of organs from different DNA?
Just exactly when do the genetic parts become a human being, as clearly the genetic parts exist after the human being dies.
Now, if I were to decide about abortion or termination of a fetus, I would make it the reasonable and informed choice of a woman not the state, but allow that choice to be available only during a time when the fetus cannot become a human being, i.e. exist outside of the womb of a woman.
This is not a fixed time, not a fixed term, but is the product of the limits of human science.
At what point could a fetus be "born" and sustain life independent of the host of the fetus, i.e. survive in an incubator.
Science now allows for babies to be "born" prematurely where in the past they would not have survived.
It seems to me that from the time of conception to the point in development of a fetus that it could be not be "born" prematurely, that is, a time when it could not survive upon leaving the womb that abortion should be a choice of the woman and should be legal. During this period, it would be a woman's choice to abort the fetus. Beyond this point, when the fetus can be "born" the Government can step in and control the process if the woman is not inclined to bear the "child."
The solution for those women who did not want the "child" at this stage would be to allow the woman to go in and "abort" the "child" into an incubator.
We currently allow women to abort their responsibility for their children....it is called giving them up for adoption. I see little difference between this giving up a child, and premature birthing.
However, when there is no human being present, simply a mass of genetic material that has the potential to someday be born if everything proceeds properly, but is not capable of birth and survival outside of the womb, either that birth coming naturally or forced by science, I continue to prefer to give the woman the right to decide what happens.
For those who have strong religious feelings on the matter, I remind them that God will punish the woman if she is wrong, and the fetus will, if it is in fact a soul, be fully taken care of upon termination of the vessel known as a body or fetus as the case may be.
I fully encourage people to practice faith in God and trust in His Eternal judgment as it is carried out in God's world and in God's time, yet equally and fully encourage leaving those personal religions and religious beliefs out of matters of state in this governance of this world.
Quote from marketsurfer:
i am trying hard to understand your reasoning, and am having difficulty. we are speaking of living creatures, not dead ones. the dna structure( at the root ) is what distinguishes one LIFE from another and one living individual from another. DNA is not human life but it allows us to distinguish one human life from another even if one of the humans happen to be living inside another one.
surfer 
