From: bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig)
Subject: Re: I had an abortion two days ago
Organization: Starfleet Headquarters: San Francisco
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 06:41:12 GMT

Martin writes;
>...  Genetics and biology would say that the thing which exists at 
>conception is human, and not only is it human, it is a special, unique
>human being.  Gender, for example, is already chosen.

Yes, it's unique -- but you could use this same argument for saying
that one given dog is unique from any other dog, so why should we let
the SPCA put dogs to sleep just because they've been there too long
without having anyone want them?

A lot of your arguments that you give regarding fetuses and women who
would abort them pertain equally well to dogs and cats and the fact
that the SPCA puts them to sleep after they've been unclaimed for a
period of time.  The only reason why it seems you accept putting
unwanted animals to sleep but you support forcing mothers to carry
unwanted fetuses to term is that the human fetus has human DNA.

I'm NOT trying to be facetious here.  Why, exactly, do you regard
human DNA as the key to moral worth?  Are there features of humanity
that distinguish humanity from lower life?  Do you understand why some
of us are trying to define exactly what these features are, and to
decide whether or not a human life in its fetal stage can be said to
possess these features?

>Whether the woman thought it was wrong or right to have the child doesn't
>change the child.  The unborn child has a right to life just as the mother
>has a right to live.

Yes, but the mother shouldn't be forced to make such a heavy
committment for something she didn't necessarily have control over.
Some women:

  - didn't know sex could get them pregnant
  - didn't know about or have access to birth control
  - didn't know or expect that birth control could fail
  - were raped or otherwise coerced into sex
  - are emotionally immature and won't care properly for an infant
  - have parents that will kick her out of the house if they knew
  - would have to drop out of school to care for a baby
  - have barely enough money to survive alone, much less with an infant
  - are not allowed or financially unable to take time off from work
  - require treatment with drugs that would harm a fetus
  - have some condition that would harm their body permanently by birth
  - experience emotional trauma that would be worsened by having a baby
  - &c.

Would you force a woman in any one of these situations to give birth,
let alone all of them?  If not, then can you come up with a law that
would allow abortions under these conditions, but not for reasons that
you decide are not valid?  Who are you to decide what's not a 'valid'
reason, anyway?

>So I believe our main difference involves the value we give fetuses/unborn
>children.  If I didn't care much for the unborn, and if I ignore what
>it is and exactly what it represents, then I would probably think it is
>tyranny for banning "mere medical operations."  However, because I do
>believe that the unborn is special human life, I want to protect it just
>as much as I want to protect the mothers life

Some of us *do* care a lot for the unborn.  I care for an human fetus
as much as I care for a pet cat -- I certainly don't want to put
either through a great deal of pain!  (Ignore for the moment being
that a fetus can't feel pain until a certain stage.)  And I really
don't want to see either one senselessly killed.  But there comes a
time when I have to let the woman have the final say about her own body.

Perhaps when medical technology advances sufficiently, abortions will
be replaced by incubators -- a woman who doesn't want her fetus can
have it removed and put into an incubator for the remainder of its
gestation, and she can walk away and that'll be the end of her
involvement with it.  But until that happens, I think she's got to be
allowed the final say on what happens to her; anything else smacks of
slavery -- especially when you hold the position that a fetus doesn't
really matter all that much.

-- 
_/_/_/  Brian Kendig                             Je ne suis fait comme aucun
 _/_/  bskendig@netcom.com                de ceux que j'ai vus; j'ose croire
  _/                            n'etre fait comme aucun de ceux qui existent.
                             Si je ne vaux pas mieux, au moins je suis autre.
                                                                 -- Rousseau
Newsgroups: talk.abortion