abortion clarification

[HoreTore]

Well, swedish women don't know when to spit or swallow anyway, so they're not really a good comparison....

And Banqou's Ghost, whether or not a fetus is alive, depends how you define life. If you compare it to say a flower, then yes, it is life. However, if you add in things like a soul/spirit/whatever as a prerequisite for (human) life, then things are no longer clear. And the debate should be about the latter, if it is only life in the manner of a flower, then surely it is no worse to kill it than said flower?

You even have support from religous books. I think it was the Quran who stated that a fetus doesn't get a soul/spirit/essence/whatever until the 3. or 4. month of pregnancy... So following that, having abortions before that time is no problem at all, since you're not killing anything, you're simply removing a fetus.

[ajaxfetish]

And Banqou's Ghost, whether or not a fetus is alive, depends how you define life. If you compare it to say a flower, then yes, it is life. However, if you add in things like a soul/spirit/whatever as a prerequisite for (human) life, then things are no longer clear. And the debate should be about the latter, if it is only life in the manner of a flower, then surely it is no worse to kill it than said flower?

You even have support from religous books. I think it was the Quran who stated that a fetus doesn't get a soul/spirit/essence/whatever until the 3. or 4. month of pregnancy... So following that, having abortions before that time is no problem at all, since you're not killing anything, you're simply removing a fetus.

And there you've finally hit on the crux of the issue. When does life begin? When are we talking about a mass of tissue, and when are we talking about a human being? When does a child start to have rights, including the right to life? If everyone agreed on the answers to this question, the abortion issue wouldn't be very complicated. You seem to see this moment as the moment of birth. Others see it as the moment of conception. Others see it somewhere in between. If you had a different view of when life begins, all your other principles could remain the same and you'd still have a very different opinion on abortion. I personally don't know what to think on this one.

Ajax

[HoreTore]

And there you've finally hit on the crux of the issue. When does life begin? When are we talking about a mass of tissue, and when are we talking about a human being? When does a child start to have rights, including the right to life? If everyone agreed on the answers to this question, the abortion issue wouldn't be very complicated. You seem to see this moment as the moment of birth. Others see it as the moment of conception. Others see it somewhere in between. If you had a different view of when life begins, all your other principles could remain the same and you'd still have a very different opinion on abortion. I personally don't know what to think on this one.

Ajax

Couldn't agree more.

That's why I'm promoting a very liberal view here. By allowing abortions, you are not discriminating those that feel live begins at conception, however, if you do not allow it, you discriminate those who feel that life begins at birth, or somewhere in between.