I was lying in my bed last night when a thought struck me and made most of my night devoid of sleep as I thought it out. Abortion is considered humane because the fetus is not “alive yet” but just what is a fetus? It is a mass of cells that takes in food and such to sustain and further itself. Now, scientists and such will tell you that a fetus is not “alive” so its okay for us to abort it, However that same scientist will most likely tell you that all human LIFE began with a single celled organism. But if the fetus(mass of cells) is not alive then how is an amoeba alive? an amoeba is a small single celled organism, that takes in nourishment to sustain/further itself. Its the definition of life, when a woman has a miscarriage in the fetal stages of her baby people still say the baby DIED, if a man pushes his wife down the stairs and kills the unborn child he can be charged with MURDER. Maybe its just me but I fail to see the logic behind this train of thought. You cant have DEATH without LIFE, you cant have MURDER without LIFE!!! So I once again ask, how is a fetus not alive? It fits all the descriptions of a living organism, so tell me what qualifies the fetus to be considered just a “mass of cells and tissue” and when does the life process begin in it? Cause lets face it, if you have an inanimant mass of cells and tissue and you try to push nourishment into it, then its not going to form a human being, you have to have LIVING cells and LIVING tissue, to form a LIVING human child…… hmm I guess I kinda rambled there for a bit, ohh well I think last night was worth it :). !)avid
January 24, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Hi.
It’s good that you’re clearly putting a lot of thought into the abortion issue. I’m not going to come over here and dole out my opinion but I though I might help clear something up.
I don’t think anyone justifies abortion on the grounds that a fetus isn’t ‘alive’. Generally, when scientists talk about life, or things that are ‘alive’ we’re referring to all life - including plants, fungi, bacteria and so on. I assume that you’re OK with killing plants
With human fetuses the issue is more about when they might become conscious to some degree - for example at what point can they be considered to actually feel pain (this requires a lot of brain development)? Obviously there is a lot of debate about at what point this occurs.
Good luck with your thoughts on this complex and emotionally charged issue.
January 25, 2008 at 9:27 am
Well if humanity is considered to be when it can be said to be “conscious” then take the case of a man who is completely paralyzed, and brain dead due to an accident on his way to work. Is he considered not human and okay to kill simply because he no longer has the capacity for pain and thought? !)avid
January 25, 2008 at 10:29 am
In your example you say that the man is brain dead.
Then, essentially, he is dead. His heart is beating, his cells will still consume nutrients and use them to produce energy.
But he, the person, is gone.
In this case, the difficulty is determining that he is truly brain dead. But if he genuinely is, then it doesn’t really make sense to talk about killing him: he’s already dead.
If he’s not ‘brain dead’ then it’s a different matter.
February 2, 2008 at 9:18 am
“Now, scientists and such will tell you that a fetus is not “alive” so its okay for us to abort it”
I have to agree with artificialhabitat that this is a strawman argument, as in you can’t rebut something that hasn’t actually been proved as being true. I doubt any scientist would say that a foetus isn’t alive, nor would they say that it’s ‘okay’ to abort foetuses willy-nilly. It’s a terrible decision that some women and their doctors make, and I don’t think it’s one that is taken lightly.
I also disagree with your comment that abortion is considered ‘humane’ by everybody. Sure, giving women the legal choice to safe terminations means that some people will abuse this, because we don’t live in a perfect world. But I would say that the vast majority of women who make this choice don’t do it without a lot of soul searching and I believe they should be given the medical care they require without personal judgements being placed upon them by others.
February 8, 2008 at 10:00 am
Azahar, I didn’t say that abortion was considered “humane” by everyone, I merely said that it is considered humane,by the people preforming them. !)avid