Author:
Wade A. Tisthammer
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Date Posted: 12/ 1/02 11:27pm
In reply to:
Ben
's message, "Mission aborted" on 11/13/02 12:34pm
For some reason I thought I’d put my two cents in.
I think all or most of us would agree that to kill a human person simply for existing is unethical. To kill a human child to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood is also unethical.
I also think that most or all of us would agree on these two statements. If an unborn child is not a person, than “killing” it for purposes of birth control would not be unethical. If an unborn child is a person, then killing the unborn child for the purposes of birth control is unethical.
What seems to be the disputable point in abortion boils down to this basic question: at which point does personhood begin? The primary candidates for this are: conception, birth, and somewhere in between.
The posts here so far seem to not focus on the heart of the matter, which I believe is the disputable point above.
Biff’s point seems to be that, if we cannot sufficiently demonstrate that the unborn child is not a person, then abortion (at least for purposes of birth control) should be prohibited.
>Your idea that the burden of proof lies on the person
>who would prove that it is "not a life" is misplaced,
>in my opinion. The idea of "life" or "not life" is
>irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, until I see a
>mandate to keep all life alive as long as possible.
The reason for prohibiting abortion should the unborn child be a person is not to “keep all life alive as long as possible,” rather it would be the same reasons homicide is outlawed today. I think, and correct me if I’m wrong at this, that to terminate a pregnancy is not sufficient reason to kill a human person. Of course, whether or not an unborn child is a person is the disputable point.
Some terms defined below, since there seems to be a little confusion on these matters (ages listed are from conception, e.g. 8 weeks is 8 weeks after conception):
- zygote: conception to implantation at 2 weeks
- embryo: implantation to 8 weeks
- fetus: 9 weeks to birth
Implantation, BTW, is the process of attachment of the embryo to the maternal uterine wall.
I probably shouldn’t be asking this question, but I am very curious.
At the 9th week, an unborn child (the fetus) is capable of feeling pain. It is for this reason that I consider abortion of a fetus (though not necessarily embryo or zygote) to be unethical (when done for purposes of birth control), but I suppose that even this fact being sufficient justification is disputable. The reason I bring this up is that I cannot see any point of view that would dictate otherwise.
My question of great curiosity is this: when advancing along human development (starting from a zygote to a full grown adult), the point is reached where the (human) being is capable of feeling pain, why wouldn’t this be sufficient reason to outlaw the killing of this being (when the reason is for purposes of birth control)?
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