User talk:Caius/Abortion

Some fundamentally erroneous logic in the first item here.

The first statement is, "Some pro-life supporters say that a fetus is a human, and that artificial abortion is equivalent to killing a child. Along these same lines, many anti-abortion groups also oppose birth control and embryonic stem cell research."

The main substance of the reply is, "By this logic you are guilty of murder every time you do not have sex or have sex with contraceptives. Even worse, some doctors estimate that as many as two thirds of fertilized egg-cells don't manage to implant in the uterus, and thus could be considered miscarriages. Every month a mature woman produces a potential human fetus. Various things have to follow the production of the egg - but it has the potential to become human."

The reply reflects a misunderstanding of the main argument; the issue is not that a fetus with potential to become a person has been aborted, making all items with such potential of equal worth, as your argument would imply. Instead, the issue is that pro-life individuals believe that the fetus is a person. That is the fundament of this argument: whether or not a fetus is a person or not. To be frank, it is a hard argument to address rationally... there is almost no difference between a fetus in the womb and a born baby two days later. It's why most people are comfortable with abortion in the first trimester, but support drops off dramatically in the second and is almost nonexistent for the third.--70.126.243.83 00:27, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

"there is almost no difference between a fetus in the womb and a born baby two days later" Actually, there is an enormous difference between the "average" foetus in the womb and a born baby, which is why Roe v. Wade acknowledges the right to terminate infection by the parasite through two trimesters. human 02:27, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

I'm not sure in what context you are using "average;" I suppose if you mean "of all fetuses," then that would be true, since the average would break down to something like, what, a three-month-old fetus?

But to the best of my knowledge, there is almost no difference between a newborn and a fetus that is a few days from birth - and those differences that exist are generally by virtue of its transition. This is why premature babies can develop into perfectly healthy individuals.

And while I am undecided on the issue of abortion, I would appreciate it if during discussion you could avoid the deliberately inflammatory terms "infection" and "parasite." It certainly doesn't help matters at all, and I find it a little distasteful. Thank you.--70.126.243.83 02:43, 5 May 2008 (EDT)