If marriage did not exist, would you invent it? I wouldn't ;)
Marriage should not be a legal institution. That's the argument we should be having. ;)
Well, that depends on how you define life. And I believe that you already agreed that scientists themselves are not sure when life begins and that your definition of life is just your opinion. Could you imagine if I could walk into a court room and state, "Your honor, it is my humble opinion that the person I shot was not alive." AND get away with it ;)
You are passionate about women's rights because you have witnessed how they are treated. You 'believe' that a fetus is just a clump of cells, but no one knows with 100 percent certainty. You could be defending women's rights at the expense of a fetus' life. My approach to the conundrum is to state my opinion and leave it at that. Not try to defend it too much. But that's just me ;)
BTW, the brain directs electrical signals necessary for normal growth. https://www.wired.com/story/