Abortion

Thank you for your interest in this topic and hopefully we can make one of first debates on this site and interesting and enlightening one. I will respond chronologically to the issues brought up in your response: But first, let me ask you a few questions. In my previous abortion debates, my opponents have thrown words like sentient at me without actually telling me what they would define that as or why sentience is necessary in being a human being. What about sentience makes us human being and why and what is it? Also, if you believe the fetus is not a human being yet, then when? At what moment does the fetus transform into a human being....or does it at all? I will reply to these issues in the way I know to be correct. Sentience in the definition I have found is defined as "sentient condition or character; capacity for sensation or feeling." A fetus can do these things. A fetus responds to stimuli, thus displays a "capacity for sensation feeling" as it can feel sensation of pricks and things of the sort due to developing nerve endings. But a newborn also responds to stimuli in the same way. Thus i do not believe this definition of sentience satisfies anything. Rather, if sentience were defined in another way, perhaps one that you could illustrate, then I can actually argue how sentience might be relevant in this issue. But the fetus is a stage in human life itself just as other stages include baby, teen, adult etc. These terms represent a time frame in a human beings life. Using a premise such as the fetus is not a human being because it is not as developed, which is one you have used, it can also be said that a baby is less of a human being than I since the baby is less developed than I. The argument you are trying to use is often referred to as "Stages of Development." The weakness here is that the premise to your argument is wrong making your conclusion also inconclusive. It cannot be confirmed or denied on that premise. And furthermore, let us assume you are correct in saying that a fetus is not a human being, but once outside of the womb it is? How does that make any sense? Do people magically transform within seconds from one state of existence to another to the next? If you believe the fetus is not a human being, then unless you can provide conclusive evidence and research of the exact microsecond it (the fetus) evolves into a human being, then it is a false idea. I will now provide lists of evidence on why the fetus IS a human being. 1. Science: A fetus has unique human DNA that has never existed before. Genetics have revealed that the DNA code you had as a fetus is the same you had as a child, as a teen, as an adult. That DNA code never existed before. That DNA code is you. Since the DNA code is you, then you were that which the DNA code combined to make, a fetus. Therefore, you were a fetus, with unique human DNA, thus making you biologically a human being from conception. The same idea applies for all fetus formed from the human egg and sperm cell. A fetus is alive because it cellular divides from conception (aka reproduces) uses energy, excretes waste, etc. Therefore, science proves the fetus is a live. Let us combine this together. Since the fetus has unique human DNA unlike that of any other being, and also is alive, therefore the fetus is a living human being in his or her earliest stages of development. No being in conceived in its full potential, rather, every being has a base from which it grows towards biological complexity. This is the case with the human fetus. For these reasons backed by hard science, the fetus is a unique human being. 2. Reason: If the fetus is not a human being than what is it? A peanut? an acorn? If it were merely just a clump of cells, then those cells are free to become a squirrel or a bear. But they aren't just a clump of cells. Those cells contain the entirety of a human being's existence within the genetic code embedded inside the cells. This would make the fetus a human being, as the science of genetics has shown. Also this then negates your arguments about masturbation and things of that sort killing a child. A sperm cell has the exact same genetic identify as the being which created it. There is nothing entirely unique about a sperm cell or egg cell. They are the scientific equivalent of a skin cell at that point which peels off of your body all the time. That isnt skin genocide. However, and you cannot refute the scientific evidence that when two sex cells meet and fertilize, a whole new genetic coding is written on that cell which at this point is now a human being in his or her earliest moment. Therefore, since the fertilized egg is now a new being with new human DNA, and is alive, there is no comparative to killing a sperm cell which is just a cell and nothing more to killing a now growing fetus which is a human being on pure scientific and logical grounds. And the questions you brought up are entirely irrelevant to the act of abortion itself. However, can you prove that statement in any way? I would assume not even though it might be an educated guess and is a possibility. However, using the logic i provided above, I know for a fact masturbation does not kill a human being, rather a cell, and therefore will never be able to be murder. However, I am opposed to birth control s well when used to prevent pregnancy during sexual intercourse. But that is another issue that doesn't deal directly with abortion. Next I would like to focus on this statement you made "Right to life is the ability to chose how to live it." I agree but there are restrictions. If my goal in life is to chose to be a criminal and rob stores, I can, but there should consequences right? If I chose to run someone over with my car for sport, Im just living my life how I want to live so whats wrong with that? Im infringing upon the rights of others. "The right to swing my fist ends where another man's nose beings"- Oliver Wendell Holmes No one can deny that statement is true. However, when it comes to abortion, all of a sudden people put the rights of the mother overt the rights of the human being inside her. Do her rights extend to eliminate the right to life of an innocent child? No one has ever been granted the justifiable right to kill an innocent human being under any circumstance. Yes the fetus is inside her body, but is the fetus in any way guilty? Lets look at this from a legal perspective. 1. The fetus did not make a conscious decision to be inside the woman. 2. The fetus has not yet reached the age of culpability 3. The fetus actually has not acted at all, rather was placed inside the woman by the joining of two different people. 4. I conclude for these reasons, the fetus is not guilt of a crime, is innocent, and therefore cannot be punished. In accordance to your rape and condoms breaking argument, should anyone be condemned for the actions of another person? That is a general question but ultimately applicable here. The fetus is not responsible for the actions of the man and because of this, cannot be held accountable under any act of punishment. That is legal study 101. Finally you claim 800 woman died during childbirth. That is always the chance taken even by a mother who strongly desires to birth her child (human being) inside her. But think about this statistic: let us just assume you accept that the fetus is a human being as I have. Then every successful abortion kills at least one innocent human child without repercussion or empathy for the baby. Abortion, if I am right, is literally the systematic killing of children. So it somehow makes sense that the only and best way to save these 800 lives is to end the lives of "In 2011, approximately 1.06 million abortions took place in the U.S., down from an estimated 1.21 million abortions in 2008, 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2011, nearly 53 million legal abortions occurred in the U.S. (AGI)." I personally don't think the best way to save lives is to kill 53 million more. So in all of my previous abortion debates, I have never been provided with a conclusive list of WHY a fetus is NOT a human being and also then at what moment and WHY at that moment the fetus morphs into an entirely new existence, that of a human being. That is my challenge to you.