In the history of the movement for ‘free love’ without children—which is a pipe dream—the unborn child’s personhood has been gradually worn down, eroded and degraded. He is an outcast and has even become an enemy and the subject of hostility. This had to happen before total abortion-on-demand would be acceptable to the general public.
By the same token, laws enacted for abortion-without-restriction have the effect of legitimising this evil, thereby embedding abortion in the culture.
Thus, we have a vicious circle.
Now we are at a stage where the unborn child has been severely de-humanised. After all, if a living being is not at all human, then it is at most an animal. The definition of unborn children as non-human is widely used to justify the killing of them. The de-humanising of the unborn child is a pleasant-looking mask to hide from us the horror that is really taking place in an abortion.