[quote=mdk]
Where it fails is 'at the woman's expense,' in that it implies this is a pure negative for the mother (most mothers tend to disagree). I would argue it's a symbiotic relationship. This allows for some 'parasitic' traits, but as a more general (and significantly less loaded) term, also acknowledges the positive aspects of the relationship.Neither is technically correct, because all forms of symbiont (including parasites) are required to be of another species from the host; biologically speaking this is natural reproductive process, which cannot be categorized in either sense we're talking about. But, hey, language is cooler than science, so eff it.
[/quote]

Definition 1 of Parasite does not specify that the organism has to be of a separate species.

Definition 2 applies as well if we assume that the Religious Radicals are right and that fetus' qualify as "persons"

[QUOTE]par·a·site [par-uh-sahyt] Show IPA
noun
1.
an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.
2.
a person who receives support, advantage, or the like, from another or others without giving any useful or proper return, as one who lives on the hospitality of others.
3.
(in ancient Greece) a person who received free meals in return for amusing or impudent conversation, flattering remarks, etc.[/QUOTE]