On Thu, 14 Sep 2000 23:54:54 -0700 Samantha Atkins
<samantha@objectent.com> writes:
ZP:
> suffice it to say that what you are advocating is clearly the
> right
> > > to
> > > murder the most defenseless members of society.
> >
BL:
> > You're doing the same when you kill a fetus. Why kid yourself and
> > pretend that you're not?
SA:
>
> Why barbaric categoric remarks guaranteed to do nothing but
> antagonize?
I should probably clarify my remarks, Samantha, especially since you may
not have seen my earlier posts on this topic. My intent was not to
antagonize, but it's probably accurate to say that the remark about
infanticide was meant to be barbaric, if by barbaric you mean foreign or
alien. I was briefly stepping outside the bounds of my native culture
and attempting to objectively consider a basic philosophical question.
> Especially when you know, if you've made much attention at all, that
> the
> issue is by no means so simple.
If my posts gave the impression that I think the issue is simple, then
I've clearly failed to communicate effectively, and for this I apologize.
The reason I chose to participate in this discussion is that the issue
has not been resolved. The US Supreme court decision in Roe v. Wade was
a political decision rather than a well-reasoned analysis of
constitutional law. The decision is therefore vulnerable with respect to
such political events as the appointment of new justices. See, for
example, the following article on the web: NARAL Fears Reversal Of Roe v.
Wade After 2000 Election
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a370225b900a4.htm
Of the young women I've talked to about abortion within the past couple
of years, the best educated and passionate about the subject are those
who are in favor of making abortion illegal (in many cases they would
deny abortions even to women whose health is endangered by the pregnancy
or who were the victims of incestuous rape). Those young women who are
not "pro-life" are for the most part complacent; they tend to believe
that the issue has been solved forever. They have no concept of the way
life was for women in the US before Roe v. Wade--and the way it still is
in the many jurisdictions where abortion is currently illegal.
For those too young to remember what it was like back then, see: Walk in
Her Shoes
An Exploration of the Barriers to Access Before Abortion Became Legal
http://www.choice.org/roevwade/index.htm
Naturally, poor women were at a far greater disadvantage than wealthy
women who could afford to get abortions at medical clinics in other
countries. In many cases where a woman already has a child or children,
the birth of another child means a severe decrease in the quality of life
for the older children, and in some cases, means death. (I wirte from
first hand observation here) .
This is one way in which the issue is not as simple as some people would
make it out to be. They look only at the first hours of life of the
newly born baby, and don't consider its subsequent life or the effects
its life has on its family. From a purely economic viewpoint, it would
seem preferable to sacrifice the life of a newly born infant than to
sacrifice the lives of older siblings who represent (among other things)
many hours of labor on the part of the parents or other members of the
society. This is likely why infanticide has been practiced within many
cultural settings.
> And that is all I will say on the
> subject except that it is a point of some despair for the future of
> this
> race that we are still at arms over abortion after all of these
> years.
It seems a pity that you, or anyone, would refuse to examine an
unresolved issue simply because it's controversial. Defining human life
seems more critical than ever at this point in time--not only for
purposes of deciding whether or when abortion should be legal, but also
for deciding whether or under what circumstances human cloning should be
legal, whether a machine-based human consciousness should be considered
human, etc.
Barbara
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