A comparison between abortion debates and disputes over frozen embryos will illuminate why this is so. In the Nebraska case, the court found that the statute was unconstitutional because it did not exempt pre-viability abortion or medically necessary abortion from its prohibition. The case involved a straightforward application of existing doctrine. Across the country, an ordinarily pro-choice public overwhelmingly supported legislation prohibiting this particular abortion procedure.
Abortion ordinarily differs from infanticide in two respects.
One involves developmental status. A fetus has not yet fully developed into a baby, whereas an infant has. The second difference concerns location. An abortion occurs inside the womb. More importantly, the pre-viability aborted fetus could not have survived outside the womb, even with extraordinary medical intervention.