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Old 03-13-2004, 06:36 PM   #14
Slartibartfast
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 516
Quote:
Originally posted by jinx


A fetus is unborn, a "potential" person, not yet an individual.
A fetus has a unique set of genes. No other human being (with the exception of maybe a twin) will ever be the same as that unique fetus. That is very individual to me.

When does a human actualize its potential? When it developes a brain? When it is born? When it can speak? When it graduated from high school, or college? What if it is born retarded and will never get above a three year old's capabilities. Will that child ever stop being just a potential human, or is has it achieved humanity yet? Is it less of a human because of the mental abilities it lacks, and will never achieve?

When we start defining a human being as human material that has achieved certain goals or milestones of physical or mental development, I think we are missing something. Humans are humans because of what they are, not because of what they have done or how far along they have developed. A baby one day before birth is not different from a baby one day after birth. Is one more human than the other? A three day old zygot (or whatever it is called, I can't quite remember) is an individual of unique characteristics, and it is human (not potentially human). We can argue about if is a 'person' whatever that is, but not about if it is human or unique.

The question of abortion is does a mother's choice of what happens to her body have precidence over the right to life of a human being growing inside of her. Take the argument where you will from there.
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