>From: "phil osborn" <philosborn@hotmail.com>
>But.... There isn't any "child" at the point of conception. There's just
>an embryo, which, if it gets a huge amount of biosupport for 9 months,
>might
>eventually make it to the point of being a child. The point at which one
>can talk about a child is certainly uncertain at our current state of
>understanding of the scientific/medical/ethical issues, screwed up as they
>are by all the religious nonsense and propaganda, but I can state with
>great
>certainty that it doesn't qualify as a child at conception, nor at one
>week,
>nor at one month, nor at three months. After that, the level of certainly
>starts dropping.
There's no "certainty" to it at all. What you have stated is nothing more
than your own personal and arbitrary belief. (It also happens to be my
belief as well, but that's beside the point.) The point is that there are
no criteria by which it can objectively and inconclusively be determined
where a human-potentiality ends and a human-being begins. The only point
where *everyone* will agree that there is not yet a human is just before
sperm breaches egg. After that, we've got nothing better than "I believe
this" and "You believe that."
So if society conducts itself according to *your* belief that a 3 month old
fetus is mere biological rubbish which can be disposed of without a second
thought, then when society changes its mind about when a fetus becomes a
human, or if objective (biological or ethical) criteria are ever established
which show that you drew the line in the wrong part of the sand, then it may
well turn out that, following your lead, society is a bigger genocidal
criminal than Hitler could ever have hoped to be.
I realize that this is much like the debate over the number of angels that
can dance on the head of a pin, but the point is that you are arguing from
*your* beliefs, not from any objective or empirical criteria. So at best
you (and I) can only argue for what we personally believe and conduct our
own personal behaviors accordingly. When you start basing *societal* policy
on your own ethical/moral beliefs, you are no better (and no worse) than the
pro-lifers who would do away with abortion altogether because of *their*
belief that, once sperm meets egg, its a human - and anyone who harms the
fetus, batters a human being.
-Zero
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