Quote:
Originally posted by jaguar
Reminds me of some text I read of some nutters anti-abortion site. Ohh lets put it all in really really messy words to put people off the idea because I want to enforce my moral code on other people. Fantastic.
3rd trimester abortions are very, very rare.
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But that's just the point, isn't it?
Almost noone believes that post-birth "abortions" should be allowed. It's rather accepted that that is murder.
Most people believe that third trimester is wrong either because the fetus/child has brain wave activity or whatever other reason.
Some people draw the line sooner because there is a face and a hearbeat and blah, blah, blah.
The point is that it is simply a matter of judgement -- where to draw the line. And that is why this issue is unlikely to be settled. There is no inication that we will ever have an answer to the question "At what point does the combination of sperm and egg become a
human being?"
As for "enforcing my moral code" on others, to a great extent, that's what ALL laws do. Most people agree that it's wrong to steal and therefore theft is illegal. Now, an argument against that would be "well, you're protecting another human being's rights!" Well, that's what pro-lifers think they're doing.
This is why I am
very ambivolent on this issue. I believe in privacy and the right to make your own choices -- especially when forcing a woman to carry a child to term seems almost like a form of slavery -- but I also do not know, no one does, when
human life begins. If we could answer that, I'd know my position instantly, but we can't.
So, it's just a question of whether we risk privacy/women's rights for the sake of the risk to the rights of an "unborn child", if it is one.
Given the lack of proof either way, I
slightly tend to defending the rights of those I know to be human beings. But it's a tenious position at best and I have a
serious problem with the FEW who use abortion as a method of birth control.
In summary, as someone above said, this is probably an unresolvable issue. There will likely be militants on both sides of this issue long after some of the recently born infants die of old age.