Abortion is a Form of Euthanasia, and Should Be Treated as Such

Your initial argument is that since congenital blindness, which is only one type of disability, may not be painful for that individual, a child born disabled could not possibly experience incessant pain. This is a logical fallacy known as dicto simpliciter -- a sweeping generalization. A terminal disease and malformed organs are indeed types of disabilities, and it could result in a child having a very short life (often months, weeks, or even days), and in excruciating pain the entire duration. Although you may be right, and a person born blind experiences no pain as a result of his or her disability, there are cases that may sound even more insufferable than any situation during which you feel it necessary to kill your friend (which could be a veritable form of euthanasia). Your second argument is that a disabled child could provide an emotionally enriching experience. This is a supposition with no factual foundation. You also indicated that cures for their congenital disability may be discovered in their lifetime, which would erase any pain he or she may have experienced. This, likewise, is optimism, and not an assertion of fact. Furthermore, you stated that a child that is born disabled could not possibly be in a situation in which he or she cannot move. This, of course, is completely false. There are a myriad of congenital disabilities that will make you question your religion. You then summarized your moral position on abortion. As far as having people decide against abortion and instead, raise a child, one should first consider whether someone who would make the decision to have an abortion should be having kids. Of course, someone may not be ready *yet*, and thus, ready *later*, but then, that person would no longer be the type of person to have an abortion if he or she were to become pregnant, would she? The fact is that women know what abortions are, what they mean, and what they entail. They make this decision nonetheless, and for those who want to and don't, chances are, a tumultuous and difficult life would result. These are the facts, unless they wouldn't be considering having an abortion in the first place. The vast majority of women who get pregnant are overjoyed. The expense in having children is not a gray area. For those who do not live on farms, and thus have more common living arrangements, children do not contribute in any meaningful way to the household income. Furthermore, they will not prefer to -- as they become progressively more expensive in their teenage years, they will only cull some of the more infuriating expenses such as impulse purchases and drugs with low-wage part-time jobs. Hundreds or thousands will still be spent on vacations, holidays, birthdays, large accomplishments, graduation, prom, and college. And that is only the basis. If you want your children to get a decent education, it's even worse. The list is endless -- children cost a fortune. Period. As for the rest: I can't believe you're actually trying to sell lynching off as though a bunch of happy white people simply skipped up to Jim the N*****, took his hand for a dance, and do-si-doed to the nearest tree. Then, they all sang a song as they tied the noose to the tree, gave ol' Jim a boost, and asked if it was too tight before they let him go, right? The next thing you mentioned was the painlessness of death by electrocution. Here is a description of an execution by electric chair from deathpenalty.org: ...the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire....Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber. (Ecenbarger, 1994). Another description: The current surges and is then turned off, at which time the body is seen to relax. The doctors wait a few seconds for the body to cool down and then check to see if the inmate's heart is still beating. If it is, another jolt is applied. This process continues until the prisoner is dead. The prisoner's hands often grip the chair and there may be violent movement of the limbs which can result in dislocation or fractures. The tissues swell. Defecation occurs. Steam or smoke rises and there is a smell of burning. (Hillman, 1992 and Weisberg, 1991) You then cite a point-blank shot to the head and being poisoned. These are red herrings. They are irrelevant to the subject at hand -- and currently, we are discussing the fact that abortion is so much like euthanasia, it should be considered as such, morally and legally. What you have not posited is your moral position on euthanasia, but from your arguments, I think it would be safe to assume that you believe that euthanasia is moral, while abortion is not. I find this interesting. The same arguments you presented in defense of keeping a disabled child could be applied to helping rather than assisting someone who is suicidal. Ultimately, you have provided no clear reasoning behind your position. Instead, you defended minute points that may have some relevance to the basis of your argument. Although much of what you said could be applied to some situations that are applicable to the topic at hand, they are not substantive enough to establish why abortion should not be considered a form of euthanasia. My position is that due to the similarities between euthanasia and abortion, they should be considered one and the same. The fact is that, if you were in a position where you were stranded in the middle of nowhere and your friend has terribly injured him or herself to the point that there is no chance whatsoever that he or she could survive, and he or she is in excruciating pain, you may decide to end his or her life in order to reduce the amount of pain that person will have to endure prior to the inevitable. Likewise, a person may be rendered comatose, and he or she may have no chance of ever waking up. His or her family may thus choose to remove him or her from life support, which would be another form of euthanasia. These sort of situations appear in abortion cases as well, such as when a child is stricken with a defect that will result in incredible pain throughout the child's entire short life, or a child that is born a narcoleptic quadriplegic. This leads to a substantiated argument that abortion should be considered synonymous with euthanasia.