Well, it’s because the abortion debate has been clouded by liberals. They often say that they are “pro-choice” meaning that abortion should be the woman’s own choice.
The liberals don’t address the fact that abortion takes away a life. Instead they say that they are in favor of the woman making the choice, rather than addressing what that choice entails. That’s liberal thought for you.
Then they talk about Planned Parenthood and how these clinics do mammagrams and pap smear tests and other things. They often talk about abortion as just one of many services offered by Planned Parenthood, and that the conservatives focus too much on just one type of service offered. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
And as you alluded to, abortion is often lumped in with “women’s health” care, or all of the OB/GYN health matters. That way, the liberals don’t have to talk about abortion in particular.
And if pressed, the liberals talk about rare cases such as a baby with severe enough birth defects that the baby won’t survive, and use that type of a rare case to justify abortion on demand.