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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:06 pm
Feel free to reply, but I'm sort of doing an experiment. I'm trying to come up with an equal number of arguments, based on logic, that support "each side" of the abortion debate. As such, I'm far more interested in people pointing out the issue in the arguments supporting "their side" than in people debating arguments from the "other side" (though of course, feel free to do that as well - though please follow the "Be Civil" rule, of course). And, of course, feel free to add your own arguments. I'm trying to keep emotions out of this (but, really, I don't think that is completely possible).
The easy one, for me, first:
Pro-Choice: All humans should be allowed to control their own body, which includes being able to deny use of one's body to any other human or organism. Thus, pregnant women retain the right to deny use of their body to unborn humans, and be able to demand their immediate removal. Until viability, all methods that remove unborn humans result in their death.
Pro-Life: All humans should be allowed to live. While the unborn human is living inside the body of the pregnant woman, it isn't taking away her right to continue living (baring the tiny percent of women who need emergency life-saving abortions - a completely different issue, since almost no one wants to see those abortions banned). Thus she should not be allowed to take away its right to continue living.
I think those are the main arguments (but feel free to correct me if you feel I am mistaken about anything).
Some supporting arguments:
Pro-Choice: The government should not be allowed to take away a pregnant woman's right to make decisions about her own body, even to protect the life of another human. This is an issue that should be decided by the people involved (the woman and the man), and not by bureaucrats.
Pro-Life: The woman should not be allowed to take away the life of the unborn human, just to protect her bodily integrity. She is the one who chose to have sex, the unborn human didn't ask to be created. Since she is partially responsible for the creation of the unborn human, she should be responsible for supporting it, until that responsibility can be passed on to someone else.
Right now, that's all I can think of.
[Edit] I thought of another one:
Personally Pro-Life: Women should not be the only person to make the decision to abort. It takes two humans to make a new human life, and both should be equally involved in the decisions made after that happens.
Pro-Life: There are three people involved in a pregnancy, the man, the woman, and the unborn human. All should be equally respected. No one should ever be allowed to make decisions to end the life of another human.
Pro-Choice: Women should get the "final say" when it comes to the decision to abort. Though couples should discuss what they will do (hopefully before they ever have sex) with an unintentional pregnancy, the unborn human is living inside of the woman's body.
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:37 pm
Just to comment waters, if you don't mind. <3
For your last argument, I would say there are THREE humans in abortion, in the pro-life argument. It's a decision of two people regarding another person's life.
I'm not arguing with you, by the by, that's just how the argument seems to go for me, at least.
Also, legally, it makes sense for abortion to be illegal if we consider the fetus a human being, because The laws of self-defence don't apply as the fetus is a passive being, metabolizing, and growing in the only way it can live, and it did not place itself there, it was put INTO existence.
And the pro-choice argument of that goes, legally, abortion is sound because of the legal precedents supporting it. (Roe v. Wade, R. v.Morgentaler.), which were found in the supreme court to be unconstitutional for the fetus to forcibly exist in the woman's womb without her consent.
If I screwed up the pro-choice argument, it's cause I'm not pro-choice. xd heart
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:13 pm
McPhee Just to comment waters, if you don't mind. <3
For your last argument, I would say there are THREE humans in abortion, in the pro-life argument. It's a decision of two people regarding another person's life.
I'm not arguing with you, by the by, that's just how the argument seems to go for me, at least.
Also, legally, it makes sense for abortion to be illegal if we consider the fetus a human being, because The laws of self-defence don't apply as the fetus is a passive being, metabolizing, and growing in the only way it can live, and it did not place itself there, it was put INTO existence.
And the pro-choice argument of that goes, legally, abortion is sound because of the legal precedents supporting it. (Roe v. Wade, R. v.Morgentaler.), which were found in the supreme court to be unconstitutional for the fetus to forcibly exist in the woman's womb without her consent.
If I screwed up the pro-choice argument, it's cause I'm not pro-choice. xd heart I would have to say that the last argument isn't that the father should have a say, but that nobody should have a say. I feel that abortion is a negative, and should not be done by anyone, and should not be a decicion made by anyone- a man, a priest, a doctor or a pregnant woman.
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:15 am
divineseraph McPhee Just to comment waters, if you don't mind. <3
For your last argument, I would say there are THREE humans in abortion, in the pro-life argument. It's a decision of two people regarding another person's life.
I'm not arguing with you, by the by, that's just how the argument seems to go for me, at least.
Also, legally, it makes sense for abortion to be illegal if we consider the fetus a human being, because The laws of self-defence don't apply as the fetus is a passive being, metabolizing, and growing in the only way it can live, and it did not place itself there, it was put INTO existence.
And the pro-choice argument of that goes, legally, abortion is sound because of the legal precedents supporting it. (Roe v. Wade, R. v.Morgentaler.), which were found in the supreme court to be unconstitutional for the fetus to forcibly exist in the woman's womb without her consent.
If I screwed up the pro-choice argument, it's cause I'm not pro-choice. xd heart I would have to say that the last argument isn't that the father should have a say, but that nobody should have a say. I feel that abortion is a negative, and should not be done by anyone, and should not be a decicion made by anyone- a man, a priest, a doctor or a pregnant woman. Actually, that's exactly what I meant. A decision of two people regarding another person's existence shouldn't be made.
No one should have the right to kill anyone else, legally, by government-sanction. That's the bottom line.
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:23 am
McPhee divineseraph McPhee Just to comment waters, if you don't mind. <3
For your last argument, I would say there are THREE humans in abortion, in the pro-life argument. It's a decision of two people regarding another person's life.
I'm not arguing with you, by the by, that's just how the argument seems to go for me, at least.
Also, legally, it makes sense for abortion to be illegal if we consider the fetus a human being, because The laws of self-defence don't apply as the fetus is a passive being, metabolizing, and growing in the only way it can live, and it did not place itself there, it was put INTO existence.
And the pro-choice argument of that goes, legally, abortion is sound because of the legal precedents supporting it. (Roe v. Wade, R. v.Morgentaler.), which were found in the supreme court to be unconstitutional for the fetus to forcibly exist in the woman's womb without her consent.
If I screwed up the pro-choice argument, it's cause I'm not pro-choice. xd heart I would have to say that the last argument isn't that the father should have a say, but that nobody should have a say. I feel that abortion is a negative, and should not be done by anyone, and should not be a decicion made by anyone- a man, a priest, a doctor or a pregnant woman. Actually, that's exactly what I meant. A decision of two people regarding another person's existence shouldn't be made.
No one should have the right to kill anyone else, legally, by government-sanction. That's the bottom line.Hmmm...good points. I guess I was thinking more of personally Pro-Life people (who believe that no one should choose abortion), rather than politically(?) Pro-Life people (who believe that abortion should be illegal).
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:53 am
Really though, the two go hand in hand.
I'm personally pro-life because the fetus is undoubtedly a human being. There is no real concrete difference between a 1 year old child and an 8 month old fetus, save for location, and it doesn't have just "potential", because its life has already STARTED happening. When we discount human life at its earliest form, we discount its importance.
I can't really be politically pro-life where I live, because abortion for any reason, in any situation, during any trimester is legal in Canada, which annoys the hell out of me. But I do think abortion should be illegal in most situations (save for life-saving abortions) because that is a very high amount of human life that could POTENTIALLY not be aborted.
Potential matters in a certain way.
La la la.
heart
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:57 pm
McPhee There is no real concrete difference between a 1 year old child and an 8 month old fetus, save for location, and it doesn't have just "potential", because its life has already STARTED happening. When we discount human life at its earliest form, we discount its importance. No differences other than size, weight, age, brain development, and hand-eye coordination, you mean?
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:38 pm
WatersMoon110 McPhee There is no real concrete difference between a 1 year old child and an 8 month old fetus, save for location, and it doesn't have just "potential", because its life has already STARTED happening. When we discount human life at its earliest form, we discount its importance. No differences other than size, weight, age, brain development, and hand-eye coordination, you mean? You can say that about a developing human at any age.
Take a 12 year old child, examine them, and then look at that child a year later. They'd be different.
And then take a developing child, look at it a year later. Again, different.
I just don't think we should have any definitive criteria to judge humans as humans, because there is certain to be a human, at some point in their lives, that doesn't fit that specific criteria, and that is the creation of a situation in which a perfectly suited human with what are supposed to be rights, becomes someone who doesn't matter, therefore is just A.O.K to kill.
Not saying that you believe this, just explaining my view on it. I thought of this point while in the shower this morning.
xd heart
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Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:55 am
McPhee WatersMoon110 McPhee There is no real concrete difference between a 1 year old child and an 8 month old fetus, save for location, and it doesn't have just "potential", because its life has already STARTED happening. When we discount human life at its earliest form, we discount its importance. No differences other than size, weight, age, brain development, and hand-eye coordination, you mean? You can say that about a developing human at any age.
Take a 12 year old child, examine them, and then look at that child a year later. They'd be different.
And then take a developing child, look at it a year later. Again, different.
I just don't think we should have any definitive criteria to judge humans as humans, because there is certain to be a human, at some point in their lives, that doesn't fit that specific criteria, and that is the creation of a situation in which a perfectly suited human with what are supposed to be rights, becomes someone who doesn't matter, therefore is just A.O.K to kill.
Not saying that you believe this, just explaining my view on it. I thought of this point while in the shower this morning.
xd heart I agree. An unborn human is just as human as the pregnant woman carrying it, a five year old child, an eighty year old man, or any other human that's ever existed. *grin* I was just saying that there are lots of differences between humans of different ages. I guess I didn't "get" that you were saying that unborn humans are humans like any other (probably because I don't see how anyone could say something different - they're humans and made of human, what else would they be?).
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Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:57 pm
To play with words, there have been choicers who have said that the fetus isn't a human "being"... Well, there's a nazi quote which is quite similar. "You are not a human [being], you are not an animal, you are a Jew."
Ah, dehumanization is so easy. Point being, I find that often when groups of people are seperated into groups, let alone treated differently, we lead to bad things.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:22 am
Human being is just a rehtoricly fance way of saying "human" they mean the same thing. Its when people begin to play with the word to twist it fomr its actualy and literal definition into what THEY WANT it to mean that we begin to have a problem.
"Human being" means the same thing as "human", and will continue to mean the same thing in life and in debate untill literal proof can be brought forth to say otherwise. "Well, it means X, in my opinoin" equates to you shoving a four foot burning poll smothered in every STD up your a** "in my opinoin smile "
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:17 pm
I don't really understand arguing over someone's opinion of "what takes to be a human being". Someone says: "I think that a human must be able to X to be a human being!" Someone else says: "I disagree, a human must be Y..."
If the dictionary definition of a term doesn't bring into account a given person's personal definition of that term (and there isn't a different definition for the term, like a legal or medical definition), then there really isn't any point of bringing up one's personal opinion of what a term means in a debate. Otherwise we'd all be like Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There (I think), using words to mean what we feel like they should mean at the time.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:45 am
Well, just to be nitpicky and say it any ways. There isn't a legal definition for "human" only "person" and even then the word "person" has been loaded so many times over the years to mean what a group in power want it to that it's convinced me of the stupidity of man to refuse to learn from his past and repeat mistakes he made so many years ago.
America for a time took away person right from blacks...what did we learn? They are people
Nazi Germany for a time took away person rights from Jews, Gypsies, and so many other races and ethnicities. What did we learn? They are people.
America has taken person right away from the unborn. Judging by history and the fact that the scenario and almost/nearly* all its variables...what do you think we'll eventually learn?
Yes, Tiger does not accept the word "person" as a legitimate argument for or against anything in this debate for these exact reasons.
*I used two words that roughly mean the same thing in the hopes some one will catch it and pay attention to them...since almost all of Gaia has a tendency to ignore their existence in a post.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:14 pm
Tiger of the Fire Well, just to be nitpicky and say it any ways. There isn't a legal definition for "human" only "person" and even then the word "person" has been loaded so many times over the years to mean what a group in power want it to that it's convinced me of the stupidity of man to refuse to learn from his past and repeat mistakes he made so many years ago. America for a time took away person right from blacks...what did we learn? They are people Nazi Germany for a time took away person rights from Jews, Gypsies, and so many other races and ethnicities. What did we learn? They are people. America has taken person right away from the unborn. Judging by history and the fact that the scenario and almost/nearly* all its variables...what do you think we'll eventually learn? Yes, Tiger does not accept the word "person" as a legitimate argument for or against anything in this debate for these exact reasons. * I used two words that roughly mean the same thing in the hopes some one will catch it and pay attention to them...since almost all of Gaia has a tendency to ignore their existence in a post. Honestly, I think the, "And history has many examples of people denying the classification of personhood to beings that we now consider to be people, so it is reasonable to assume that we are now incorrectly categorizing the unborn!" is a really poor argument (Note: I am aware of your use of almost/nearly). Why? Because 1) such an argument ignores the fact that humanity has also erred in the other direction 2) even if we were mistaken in the past, it does not mean we are mistaken now. For example, at one point humanity believed that a sperm was equal to a person. These people believed that the sperm was a complete human being, needing only the opportunity to grow bigger. Now, because we have more knowledge of sperm, we say that sperm are not people. Furthermore, I don't think any Pro-Lifer would accept the argument, "We were wrong in considering sperm to be people, so we are wrong in considering embryos to be people," as valid.
Also, when blacks were denied rights in the USA, there was a strong belief that blacks were not human, and that they were in fact of a different species. This was part of the reason that interbreeding was discouraged; the offspring that resulted from a black/white union were compared to the offspring of a horse/donkey union (aka, a mule). So just chucking the personhood argument out the window wouldn't necessarily keep us from making the same mistakes of the past.
That being said, I'm of the belief that the category of "personhood" may be entirely subjective, and as such it isn't one I use when debating abortion.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:27 pm
I'm personoly of the belief that the idea of person hood is simply put, worthless and has no place in the English language other then to describe some one with out referring to them as "that human over there" which just sounds plain weird. As such, I'm the kind who simply will never use the word "person" in any debate other then it's literal meaning
N. "Person": A human being.
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