Friday, January 23, 2009
The Abortion Issue and the Public Debate
The question here is not religious but rather philosophical (because religion informs but not dictates our laws). In addition, it is not about the women's right to choose. After all, no one believes women have the right to kill. Therefore, the primary question is ow do you define a human?
You cannot require independence. Consider a baby 5 minutes into life. It can barely open its eyes. And, if someone is in a coma, they are totally dependent, yet still a human.
For the same reasons, you cannot require the ability to communicate or perform any functions.
The only difference between the unborn and the rest of humanity is their location inside another human. Therefore, in order to strip the unborn of their humanity, you have to conclude location plays a roll in being a human.
Being human transcends location and our laws should reflect that fact.
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Well said John. I agree and would add the following: another way to reframe the abortion debate is to ask at what point does life begin? America seems to beleive that life begins at sentience. I take issue with this not only because the "moment of sentience" is impossible to indentify and because it denegrates the value of life. In my eyes, life (the ability to grow and spontaneously move and interact with God's world) begins the moment of conception. Even though a newly conceived human life might not be able to independently live by itself or function in a fully human manner, it is still human and still alive. Destroying a "fetus" is still destroying human life. People tend to gloss over this fact by assuming that because the fetus isn't fully human it is somehow not human at all. Maybe this congnitive dissonance is the only way we can live with our collection decisions to kill millions of children every year.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is an important point to make. And, if people claim we to be agnostic on whether the unborn is a human or not, shouldn't you air on the side of caution and assume it is?
ReplyDeleteAfter all, would you destroy a car holding either a) not humans or b) humans? Unless you are sure a) is the reality, you should not.