Late Term Abortion

[Lemur]

Deciding when exactly a blastocyst becomes a human being is a tricky bit of business, and maybe impossible. Just to tease out how difficult this is:

PJ, do you consider a newly-fertilized egg to be a human being? If so, do you acknowledge that the rhythm method is genocide?

Craterus, is a fetus one day away from birth inhuman? What happens in the last 24 hours that turns the non-human fetus into a human baby? Please explain.

[HoreTore]

Craterus, is a fetus one day away from birth inhuman? What happens in the last 24 hours that turns the non-human fetus into a human baby? Please explain.

What makes a human being tick? What makes us capable of thinking? When does that change happen? Is there such a thing as a "soul"? If so, when do we get it?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

What makes a human being tick? What makes us capable of thinking? When does that change happen? Is there such a thing as a "soul"? If so, when do we get it?

Way to dodge the question.

[Craterus]

Craterus, is a fetus one day away from birth inhuman? What happens in the last 24 hours that turns the non-human fetus into a human baby? Please explain.

Well, you would first need to define what it is that makes us human. I don't have an answer for that. Quickening? Birth? It's hard to say unless you believe in things like souls but even then, it's not absolutely necessary that a soul has to exist from conception.

I haven't quite made my mind up about abortion yet but I know the better philosophical arguments on both sides of the debate and I thought I'd play devil's advocate for this topic.

In a way, I feel third-trimester abortions are inexcusable because the foetus is so much more developed. For those that claim not to realise, surely a missed period or two is enough indication. And for others, it shouldn't take 6 months to decide you don't want the thing.

Ideally, people would choose to have unwanted children and simply put them up for adoption when they are born but 9 months is a long time and it's a huge inconvenience. The morality is, of course, questionable but abortion can not be proven to be morally right/wrong so I think it's probably best to allow women the right to do what they wish to their own bodies.

[Devastatin Dave]

PJ, do you consider a newly-fertilized egg to be a human being? If so, do you acknowledge that the rhythm method is genocide?
.

Send in the UN to my gym sock for the mass graves of my conquest reside there, especially when Mrs DevDave's Aunt "Flow" is in town....

Now that's a siggy.