Of course, if your beliefs say that abortion is murder, then I don’t see how you could morally NOT protest them.
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I don’t believe that the government has any right to interfere with women having an abortion. If the person is desperate enough to get rid of there baby than they …[/QUITE]
There are some things I think are wrong and the government should have laws against such as rape, murder and thief. There are some things I think are wrong and the government should regulate such as smoking, drinking and drug use. Then there are those things that I think are wrong and the government should have nothing to do with such as adultery, selling magnetic wristbands to cure arthritis, and bungi jumping.
I think we should all make these distinctions and I think abortion should be in the second category. There are certain late term abortions, where the mother’s life is not as risk and the baby is healthy, that should not be allowed. Just because some “desperate” person would blow their husbands head off, if he doesn’t go and leave her all the money, and just because she will feel bad after doing so is not a reason to OK murder.
Such bad arguments for abortion along with the bad arguments against abortions is what prevents us from realizing that it is an activity that should be allowed but regulated.
Firstly I’d like to apologise to those who asked me questions and who didn’t get responses. Truth is I’ve been pretty poorly over the last week and haven’t really had the energy to debate properly. Anyway, with that…
I think you’re right. Life is, in retrospect, too vague a term. When I used life I was in essence referring to personhood which, of course, incorporates basic existance. Thanks for helping me redefine my terms.
I don’t think that the parents can be faulted when the other zygotes didn’t attach because there is no way a scientist can tell whether or not a zygote has a higher than normal chance of attaching before implantation. It’s basically just a case of trial and error. As such implanting more than 1 egg increases the chances of at least 1 of them becoming attached. There is no way (at least not to my knowledge) of knowing whether the eggs which didn’t attach would have stood a better chance of attaching if they had been implanted differently so by implanting multiple eggs the chances of a zygote attaching quickly are increased. As such, neither the parents nor the scientists can be faulted if a zygote fails to attach
Also IVF is an expensive technique (the average IVF cycle is about $10,000 I believe) and if the eggs were planted individually it would cost the prospective parents more money because there would most likely be more failed attampts. If those three eggs were implanted individually and the first 2 failed, the couple may not have enough money for a third implantation.
The mother is not morally obligated to implant the remaining zygotes because if 4 or 5 of them happened to take it could be potentially very dangerous for the mother.
The responsibility of the lab is a different matter altogether. Whilst I’m not sure exactly what else the lab could do with the extra zygotes (because there would be an awful lot of them) I do have problems with the idea of just washing them away. To be totally honest I’m still undecided on this.
beagledave & Spoofe have explained this better than I could. Although sperm-egg fusion is known to be facilitated by the acrosome reaction, the actual mechanism of fusion is unclear. Presumably, some change occurs on the sperm surface during the acrosome reaction to facilitate fusion. Since it is generally unclear what exactly happens during this fusion an exact specific dividing line cannot be drawn. I personally take ‘moment of conception’ to mean the moment within 24 hours of initial fusion where the zygote cleaves for the first time. Others may disagree, placing the moment of conception earlier or later and since the precise moment isn’t clearly defined I cannot disagree.
Could they be used to grow replacement organs for the zygotes that is brought to term?
Before I Reply, I Will Say That I Am Pro-Choice.
But Also A Little Pro-Life, As I Don’t feel abortion should be used as a form of birth control, or replacement for responsible behaviour. Ultimately, it is an individual choice - which will be made whether the procedure is safe and legal, or a life-threatening, back alley coat hanger procedure.
While your reasoning has it’s own validation - I must ask this … Do you remember your existance, firsthand, as a fetus? If not … how can you be 150% certain that they do not feel pain? You cannot be. Nor can I. There are many things as such, that we will never truly know the absolute truth about, and I feel that is one of them.
I do know that a heartbeat is present at 25 days gestation… and if it has a heartbeat, it is technically “alive”.
If you sincerily feel that an early term abortion is “ok”
You really only need to convince yourself of that…
No one else is living your life, Nor will anyone else pay your debts… It should be a matter of personal choice in most cases, and if your judgement is sound, and reasonable - Then you are fit to make that decision without the acceptance or condoning of others.
One question has arisen for me though.
If an entity’s growth (of any form) can be permanently stopped, or terminated - via the human hand, medical instrument, or pharmaceutical drug… then how can you say it was never alive?
Termination does mean Stop
Pregnancy does mean Life Carried Within
I wonder sometimes, if people who ask these questions about abortion being ethical, are they really trying to convince us, as the outside world, or are they more focused on convincing themselves?
Either way - It’s your choice.
Don’t expect the world to validate your choices because you feel that they might be wrong in some sense. Do what you’re going to do, and live with your decision. That’s what being an adult is about.
Actually, if someone is so torn - between what is right and wrong - in a situation as such, they apparently aren’t mature enough to be in any position to make such a choice.
So my advice is for them to load up on some birth control and trojans, if they can’t make decisions without the consent and approval of the rest of the world.
Opinions are like buttholes - We all have one.
And that is mine. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong - It’s Just my opinion.