The third is talking about preaching. And yes, Lutherans do not allow women to preach.
They don't? I've seen at least 2 Lutheran churches where the teaching pastor was a woman.
Then, out of curiosity, what's the context of the "I've known you since you were conceived"? It seems that context is important
As I was trying to say, you have to be careful with quoting from the Bible
Generally I've found that the Bible is fairly clear when it's being symbolic. For example, the Revelation is written metaphorically; undoubtedly, these are what John experienced. However, he couldn't describe what he experienced precisely; much was written using comparisons that he and we could understand.
Allright. Time for my soapbox.
Wikipedia defines
life as having the following 5 characteristics:
Growth
Metabolism, consuming, transforming and storing energy/mass; growing by absorbing and reorganizing mass; excreting waste
Motion, either moving itself, or having internal motion
Reproduction, the ability to create entities that are similar to, yet separate from, itself
Response to stimuli - the ability to measure properties of its surrounding environment, and act upon certain conditions.
An embryo never ceases to exist prior a fetus coming into existence; a fetus doesn't cease to exist when an infant is born. These labels are simply states of development of the same being. The first four are obviously all possible; like it or not, a fetus or embryo is "like us." It may not have the same structures as we, but when you're building a house, you know that it's going to be a house, even when just the foundation is there.
The last criterion -- response to stimuli -- is not a commonly-known thing. It was something I had to look up. But it seems that prenatal development and stimulus-response is well-documented.
From here, it's obvious. This is not only a being -- but a being capable of intelligent life. If you leave a dog in the car in the sun "they'll fry you on the six o'clock news" (Jeff Foxworthy). The dog is just as dependent on you for life as the child is to the mother.
What it boils down to is that people don't want to take responsibility for their actions. If you want to have sex, you have to be prepared for the eventuality that you're going to have a child. The 100% guaranteed effective way at not getting pregnant is not to have sex. But another person shouldn't have to suffer because you had to get busy with someone. Once that person is alive -- once that person is conceived -- he or she has the right to live. That person can't defend himself or herself, though; and government's role is to defend the weak from the strong.
In my opinion, a secular society can't outlaw abortion in cases of rape. Threatening the life of the mother is a gray area IMO as well. It can outlaw abortion in other circumstances, though. Threatening the quality of life? Tough. Don't go having sex all willy-nilly if you don't want to face the music.