hi, catsci! there’s a lot of traffic on this thread so if I missed something I apologize.
you are correct that sperm and eggs are both alive - but neither has a full compliment of human dna and therefore is not a new human. it is only through the combination of the two that a new, unique human life is formed.
ok, do I get your logic? something is legal. there are laws saying it’s legal. therefore, regardless of anyone’s opinion of the morality of the law, it should remain legal.
if this is correct… there are several major problems with it. first, I’ve already pointed out that religion is the set of beliefs one holds. someone who creates or passes a law believes it is the right thing to do. therefore, they are imposing their morality on everyone who doesn’t agree. as I said before, it’s just that most people agree on most things, so it only appears to be devoid of belief. second, this implies that once a set of laws is created, there is never any reason to add, subtract, or change them. anyone who would want to change them clearly would have some problem with them, and that problem would stem from their beliefs. should we still have slavery or not allow women to vote, because those things weren’t allowed when the country was founded?
again, in case anyone missed it the first time: religion is the set of beliefs one holds. people make choices based on their beliefs. laws are passed because people believe they are making the right choice. therefore, laws are inherently religious in nature.
the common reasons for miscarriage all have to do with one of three topics: something is chromosomally wrong and is not viable; something is physically wrong with the mother; the mother’s environment is preventing the pregnancy. there is nothing to be done in the first case. there are surgical and hormonal options available in the second case. and in the third case, we most certainly try to prevent them - don’t smoke, don’t drink to excess, don’t be around drugs or other toxins. this seems to me that there is plenty being done to prevent miscarriages. your argument that we should be “trying to save every life” is ridiculous because it implies that no one should ever die.
back to the issue of “personhood” - again, it’s a completely arbitrary benchmark. say there are two babies born at the same time: A at full term, B six weeks early. B is physiologically like A was six weeks prior, still in the womb. does that mean B shouldn’t be considered a “person” until six weeks have gone by, because that’s when it should have been born?
if you agree with this, it implies that infanticide should be legal in situations where the baby was born before the due date. but why choose the due date as the benchmark? why not at six months, when they can eat food other than milk, or at a year or two or three, when they can talk, walk, and no longer need diapers? what about retarded or deformed babies, who can’t learn to do any of that (they turn into retarded or deformed adults, you know, and can’t make their own choices!) there are normal adults that get in accidents every day, reverting them back to an infantile stage, and of course all those pesky old people…
do you see how utterly ridiculous this is??
if you don’t agree, why? is it because infanticide (and killing those other groups I mentioned) currently is illegal, and therefore it should remain illegal? or is it because you think it’s wrong? if you think it’s wrong, who are you to tell those people that think it’s not wrong that they can’t do it? that’s imposing your beliefs on them, after all.
abortion is an intrinsic evil. it takes the life of a human that can not consent. it is based on the false premise that the developing cells are no different than any other part of a woman and therefore are hers and hers alone to do with what she wishes, or discriminates against the cells for using the mother’s body. well, how else are humans supposed to reproduce? it allows the woman to choose, but it doesn’t want her properly informed (don’t show her the heart beating! don’t make her tell her parents! definitely don’t make her tell her husband! and don’t tell her that her chemical birth control causes abortions!) over 90% of down syndrome babies are killed. the womb is the last place we can play eugenics.
roe v wade is simply bad law, based off false premises and flimsy arguments. doe v bolton is even worse because it defines “health” so broadly that it ceases to be a restriction.
women who don’t want the possibility of a baby should not be having sex. it’s as simple as that.
if you’d like to continue arguing that the unborn are simply “future persons,” have you ever stopped to think that maybe one of the ~50 million “future persons” that have legally been aborted may have discovered the cure for cancer or aids? or helped solve world hunger, or given people access to clean water?
17 states provide funds for abortion. this is not a private issue when taxpayer money is being used.
