No More Bin Laden

[kandrathe]

I certainly won't pretend to be an expert on baby development, but I really have a hard time grasping that a fetus weighing a few grams is in any way a "living human being". Yes, it may have brain activity but it certainly isn't viable outside of the womb (much like my brother in law). I could make the analogy that a 7-10 week fetus is more of a parasite, but that just leads me back to my brother in law joke.

I've thought about physical characteristics as well. 10 ounces or 96 ounces, caterpillar or butterfly, it's still alive. Bringing it back to the adult example... Often, a person cannot continue existence without some artificial means, like a heart/lung machine. I don't really think we can claim that people who cannot survive without external support are no longer people. The womb is just the perfect incubator for growing people.

Popular opinion trends mean nothing in a discussion like this.

I was contrasting your claim about the intractability of the situation. The trend in opinion is toward restricting abortions after around 14 or so weeks.

Interestingly enough, in Talmudic law this was the criteria used by the ancient Hebrews in determining the punishment for feticide. If the miscarried fetus looked and was shaped like a person, then it was considered murder. If not, the fine was left up to the victims to decide in depriving them of the potential family member. We can learn much about ourselves by considering how we'd respond to the killing of wanted pregnancies. I still think that being unwanted is no reason to kill someone.