From: chall@eco.twg.com (Charles Don Hall)
Subject: Re: The Red Button Scenario
Organization: The Wollongong Group (East Coast Operations)
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 17:59:11 GMT

In <Aug12.053357.59846@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> sa114984@longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU (Steven Arnold) writes:

>> >      To help clarify the issue, let me offer "The Red Button Scenario."
>> >      First, surely we'd all agree that if a woman has the right to control
>> > her own body, she must have a right to pat herself on the stomach three
>> > times.  Any alleged right to control your own body which excludes
>> > something so basic as patting your stomach three times isn't much of
>a right.
>> >      A woman sits in a room.  Before her is a table, and on the
>table sits a
>> > red button.  The button is marked "SEX."  In front of the table is a
>> > cage, 2x2 feet square at the base, and twelve feet high.  The floor of
>> > the cage is a trap door, which if opened will drop the occupant twenty
>> > feet into a deep cistern partially filled with water.  The water is
>> > swarming with pirhanna.
>> >      The trapdoor is marked "ABORTION."
>> >      If the woman pushes the red button, YOU (an admitted person) will
>> > appear in the cage.  If the woman then pats her stomach three times, the
>> > trapdoor will swing open and you will plunge to your death.
>> >      Question:  If the woman voluntarily pushed the button, and knowing the
>> > consequences of patting her stomach three times, does she still have an
>> > unmodified right to do so?
>> >      I'd say she doesn't.  She didn't have to push that button, yet
>she did.
>> >  Now because of her own actions you're in danger, and she is obliged to
>> > do whatever she can to prevent your death.
>> >      Now suppose the woman is sitting in the room when a man bursts is.  He
>> > is wearing a T-shirt upon which is written, in bold red capital letters,
>> > "RAPIST."  Suppose he pushes the button and you appear.
>> >      In that case, I'd still say the woman OUGHT NOT pat her stomach three
>> > times, and she SHOULD try to help you as much as possible.  But I do NOT
>> > believe she has waived any of her rights, and I strongly maintain that
>> > she still has a right to pat her stomach.  If you die, only the rapist
>> > can reasonably be blamed, and I would hold him accountable, in that
>> > case, for murder as well as rape.
>> >      That's the difference.

I've been thinking about this all weekend, and I've come up with three
different responses which are unfortunatly aren't all compatible. I
guess I'll post all of them, and people can pick their favorite.

RESPONSE I:

I see no point in addressing an analogy that implies that "carrying 
a pregnancy to term" is equivalent to "not rubbing your stomach 
three times". Such an analogy is so strained that any conclusions
drawn from it will be worthless.


RESPONSE II:

OK, what if the woman presses the button, but does not want to rub
her stomach three times. Suddenly, a man runs in and rubs her stomach
against her will. He wears a T-shirt which says "Psychotic Vacuum
Cleaner Salesman". Although the players are different, the sequence
of events is the same as the sequence in the "Rapist" scenario, so 
the woman is guilty of murder and the vacuum cleaner salesman is not. 

(There are some minor flaws in this argument, but I like it because
of the compelling imagery, so I'm including it.)


RESPONSE III:

You left out an important part of the analogy. Suppose the woman
presses the button, but doesn't rub her stomach. The person in 
the cage is still at risk: A 36-slot roulette wheel is spun by
a robot arm. If it stops on any of the numbers 1-12, the walls
of the cage slowly slide inwards and crush the victim. (The motor
which does this is labelled "Failed to Implant"). If the wheel
stops on 13-24, then vents in the ceiling open up, filling the 
cage with boiling sulfuric acid (The tank of acid is labelled
"Miscarriage After Implantation".) Only if the wheel stops on
25-36 will the person in the cage live.

So, by pressing the button, the woman runs a 2/3 chance of
causing a person to die. Regardless of whether she chooses 
to rub her stomach or not, she is guilty of at least attempted 
murder, and should be punished accordingly. 

If she insists on pressing the button, then she should be
required to take a chainsaw (labelled "Surgical Sterilization")
and cut the wires leading from the button to the cage. This
way, no one will get hurt.
-- 

===========================================================
Charles Don Hall, Licensed Philosopher  (chall@eco.twg.com)
===========================================================
Newsgroups: talk.abortion