I would like to try and avoid a buch of rabid Catholics and Christians falling back only on the religious reasons and what have you. However, I do not see how that can be dodged.
My view? I'm for it. If a woman wants to get one, it is her choice. Some people seem to act like if one woman gets an abortion, it means that all the rest have to. If the child in question is not yours, butt out.
Also, on a lighter note, I say that abortions should be allowed when kids are up to 18 years old. That would solve a lot of headaches, eh?
The other question though is: "Is human life intrinsically worthwhile?" If I don't think it is, then the question doesn't work. Also, the term murder is used to mean the wrongful act of killing something, which is kind of begging the question, no?
That's a great question. 'Is human life intrinsically worthwhile'. I believe all Humans are created in the Image of God and have value.
In regards to 'Murder', if one believes 'Life begins @ conception' and that 'life has intrinsic value', then I don't see how Abortion can be anything but murder.
Agreed, however establishing those axioms is the challenge. As an atheist, I don't believe humans have any divinely given right to life, nor do I believe that a human life is worth any more than any other creature's life. So it's the abortion endgame; how to establish some sort of argument that is both valid and sound that can convince someone of the wrongness of abortion.
PETA kind of scares me, but as far as how worthwhile the life is, there is no reason that I should assume otherwise. That's not to say I wouldn't trade a human life for a rat, but that's only because I am a human and so I have some idea of the conscious states of humans and can identify with them. But I'm sure if rats and pigs could reason they would feel the same way.
Pssh, I love PETA. Those videos where they show a cow go form start to finish in slaughter house? Priceless. After the videos, I go eat a nice rare steak. Of course, this is from the same guy that watched watched the last televised autopsy. While eating icecream.
If the rat was Templeton, then hell yeah I would trade a human for him. He was awesome. But I would not care about Babe. He would taste far too good.
Peter Singer wrote some philosophy on animal rights, but in a skewed sense. Basically he argues that it is morally acceptable to perform experimentation on 6 month infants if you perform experimentation on animals.
That makes sense if you look at it through the eyes of science.
Both more or less have the same mental capacity. And you get the same desired effects. But that is about where the similarities end. There are many more animals than people. Animals simply in general have a shorter gestation period and give birth to more offspring. And I do not think PETA every rasied a stink when it came to humans being tested on. But then again there is a group for every kind of testing and such.
[url]http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/scheibel.htm[/url] This is my proof. Most of this is irrelevant, but do read the last two topics. They clearly state that it is during the late 2nd trimester, early 3rd, the brain is very developed. The last paragraph, the one about the voice, is definitive of a conciousness. I do however suggest that you read more of it because it is just that interesting.
I'll never know what its like to have an abortion, or to face the decision of keeping the child in cases of rape or one night stands. If there are any women reading this that have had an abortion, I just want to let you know that you aren't alone and if you ever need prayer or support, I know a lot of good places to find it.
I wonder if they offered free birth control injections and REALLY promote it, if that would reduce abortions.
Also, this is a question of ethics, does it invade someone's right to give them that birth control injection at birth (let's pretend it is 99.9% safe) and have it removed when you are wanting to have a child?
