I am vegan for ethical reasons and here's how I think of it:

1. Killing is an inherently immoral act. In order to eat the flesh and consume the bi-products of an animal, killing that animal is in order. When you purchase and consume animal products, you create a demand for them which results in the production of more of that product. By purchasing and consuming animal products, you are personally guaranteeing and advocating for the killing of more creatures. Also, it is worth mentioning that the animals the omnis eat traditionally have predators which are often killed by farmers much less humanely than the animals meant for slaughter. When you're eating chicken, it is likely that a wolf also had to die for you to eat that chicken. If this isn't enough of an ethical argument for you, read on.

2. I can get all of the nutrients I need to survive and thrive from plants and so can you, most likely. When you learn this, eating meat, or anything really, becomes less about nutrition and more about satisfying your taste buds. Lots of people could never imagine giving up bacon or hamburgers or whatever because, "tHeY'rE sO tAsTy." At this point, you should ask yourself, "Is this fleeting moment of happiness that I experience from eating this meat more important than the life of the animal that made it possible?" In other words, "Does my momentary mouth pleasure take precedence over the life of this creature?" If you say yes, stay away from me. If you say no, you might like to look into living a more plant-based lifestyle. Food is meant to nourish our bodies and give us fuel to accomplish tasks. We're clever so we made it into an art form, a center of community and a tradition among other things, which is why it can be impossible for people to understand that eating meat is bad for us, the animals and the environment. We're still clever and we can make new, delicious traditions without all the death

3. Meat and dairy farms have proven to adversely impact the environment. Considering that the Earth is one of the only things that we ALL have to share, I want to make as little impact on it as possible so that it is still as beautiful for the veg*ns and the omnis that inhabit it in the future.

Now don't get me wrong, veganism isn't the answer for everyone. Some people would like to argue that any kind of vegism is not financially realistic for many communities. I would counter that by saying that the cheapest foods in the world are rice, oats, beans, lentils and potatoes (aka what they feed your meat) and while nutritious veg is more expensive than the foods I just mentioned, nutritious veg will still be less per pound than meat in *most* parts of the world. In reality, if we weren't shoveling our cheapest crops into the mouths of animals for slaughter and consumption, there would be more of those crops for the poorer parts of the world.

What I really want to talk about is the general ignorance around the dairy industry. You all know where milk comes from, right? If you said, "COWS!" you're only partially correct. Milk comes from mammals when they're lactating. Mammals only produce milk when they're pregnant or right after pregnancy. This means that dairy farms are forcibly impregnating cows over and over again, taking their milk and doing what with the calves? Leaving dairy cows dried up and childless before slaughtering or selling them to milk them (pun intended-- there is a reason the phrase "milking it" has negative connotations) for the last bit of profit they can possibly garner. Our consumer-driven culture is desensitized to and ignorant of the processes that are required to produce the things we love most. It's time we start asking questions about where it all comes from and how it is made.

I haven't seen anything on this discussion about the mother's role in this matter. Women get abortions for a whole host of reasons. Carrying the baby to full-term may cause the death of the mother, the fetus may be at a large risk of miscarriage (which is much more common than most of society is aware of), not to mention other reasons like rape.

Your main question is about the stage in which a fetus is to be considered to have rights to life, but this question ignores an essential piece of the discussion that is the "morality of abortion." Once we've determined when a fetus is considered to have rights, then we must determine if those rights take precedence over the rights of the mother. Does a mother lose the right to bodily autonomy just because the fetus remains viable to a certain point? A fetus doesn't just sit in your womb for 9 months. Once you're pregnant, you will be a mother forever and that fetus, in most cases, becomes the entire life of the mother. We can't reasonably assess which of the two will contribute more to society so we can't use that as a metric for deciding which life means more. The pro-choice side says the mother is more important and has a right to decide what to do with her body while the pro-life side argues for the uncertain future of the fetus on the grounds that it is a living human and it deserves a chance.

To answer your question, I want to ask a few more questions. What do you determine as value of life? Does mere existence give life value? Does existence merit the receipt of rights? Considering that the "rights" we're discussing are just a part of our Social Contract, what qualifies as a contribution to society?