Help! Buffalo is stumped

[buffalo]

A few days ago we were discussing abortion and my nephew (he is pro-life, but devil’s advocate) posed this scenario.

What if you woke up in a hospital and you were tethered to another patient who was dependent on you and this hookup. This was done agaqinst your will (as in abortion in the case of rape). Can you cut the connection?

 

[PaulinVA]

Buffalo, can you imagine a world without hypothetical situations?



I can’t answer this, as it would never happen. I’m a little more concrete than this.

 

[buffalo]

Buffalo, can you imagine a world without hypothetical situations?



I can’t answer this, as it would never happen. I’m a little more concrete than this.

I know - this kind of thing will drive us crazy? I did try to point out the strangeness of this example.

 

[Della]

I’ll bite (although I’ll probably regret it LOL). If we are going to compare pregnancy to your son’s scenario, I have to ask: Will it be forever? No. Will it save the other person’s life? Yes. Will you be doing something good for another that might cost you something, and is that a good thing? I’d say yes on both counts. All in all, I can’t see the dilemma here. Would I allow it to be done to me? In a heartbeat. (Not a rape, of course, but saving the life of the innocent human being engendered by it, yes.)

 

[mapleoak]

A few days ago we were discussing abortion and my nephew (he is pro-life, but devil’s advocate) posed this scenario.

What if you woke up in a hospital and you were tethered to another patient who was dependent on you and this hookup. This was done agaqinst your will (as in abortion in the case of rape). Can you cut the connection?

Cutting such a hypothetical connection between a dependent and oneself can be seen as a direct severance of life sustenance which will directly result in death. In this case, the end (elimination of an inconvenience) doesn’t justify the means (withdrawing direct means of life support).

 

[buffalo]

Cutting such a hypothetical connection between a dependent and oneself can be seen as a direct severance of life sustenance which will directly result in death. In this case, the end (elimination of an inconvenience) doesn’t justify the means (withdrawing direct means of life support).

That is what I thought, but I couldn’t find my words.

His claim was that the end does justify the means as he had no choice in the matter.

 

[mlchance]

What if you woke up in a hospital and you were tethered to another patient who was dependent on you and this hookup. This was done agaqinst your will (as in abortion in the case of rape). Can you cut the connection?

Sure, you can, but doing so would be wrong.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Hi Buffalo…don’t be stumped.

The hypothetical question you have is flawed. The “patient” isn’t a stranger but your own offspring. Mom’s are required to take care of their own children.

If I locked my kids out in the yard with no food or water, my neighbors could feed them out of kindness. But the child protection people would come after me, because mothers are obliged to care for their children.

 

[buffalo]

Hi Buffalo…don’t be stumped.

The hypothetical question you have is flawed. The “patient” isn’t a stranger but your own offspring. Mom’s are required to take care of their own children.

If I locked my kids out in the yard with no food or water, my neighbors could feed them out of kindness. But the child protection people would come after me, because mothers are obliged to care for their children.

Good point.

 

[rpp]

Actually, I do not believe this is an entirely hypothetical situation. Consider conjoined twins.

While this is certainly a moral quandary, I would lean on the side of thinking that cutting the connection, which may result in the death of either myself, the other person or, if things go terribly wrong, both, may be morally licit as this is an unnatural condition.

 

[Dale_M]

The hypothetical question you have is flawed. The “patient” isn’t a stranger but your own offspring. Mom’s are required to take care of their own children.

Plus, in the hypothetical scenario you wouldn’t be free to move around. Granted, pregnancy can be physically limiting, especially during the last three months, but it is nowhere near as limiting as the scenario depicts. Showering or getting in a car would be near impossible in if you were tethered to some stranger…

 

[Mark77]

A few days ago we were discussing abortion and my nephew (he is pro-life, but devil’s advocate) posed this scenario.

What if you woke up in a hospital and you were tethered to another patient who was dependent on you and this hookup. This was done agaqinst your will (as in abortion in the case of rape). Can you cut the connection?

No! You can never kill an innocent person.

A mother can never murder her own innocent baby, even if the baby is the result of a rape.

2 wrongs do not make a right.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

Mark