On Apr 25, 2005, at 8:20 AM, Julia Thompson wrote:
I know of someone who had had more than one baby the first time around and was having an early ultrasound after she'd discovered she was pregnant a second time. The first ultrasound revealed 2 fetuses, but only 1 heartbeat was detected. The second ultrasound a couple of weeks later revealed only 1 fetus. (There is speculation that the "vanishing twin" syndrome is more common than we think, but I'm not sure how common it supposedly is.)
By John's argument the surviving twin should be tried for murder. After all s/he presumably killed and possibly engulfed his/her sibling, and since a mass of undifferentiated cells is equal to "human" in his lexicon, it's abundantly clear that the x-week-old is guilty. (Unless some other fetus snuck in there in the night and did the deed.)
Fratricide, infanticide and cannibalism are serious crimes. I say we try the offender as an adult and don't hold back on the death penalty if there's a guilty verdict.
That's only sensible, right?
Well, we don't know why the second twin vanishes.
If it's a matter of the fetus not being viable, but developing to a point before it hits "not viable" due to genetic or environmental factors having nothing to do with the surviving twin, then the surviving twin isn't the one who ought to be tried.
Maybe it's the parents, for having bad genes! Maybe it's due to something environmental that someone else should be liable for! Maybe we just ought to take it all to CIVIL court and get damages from anyone who might possibly have contributed to the non-surviving fetus's demise!
Julia _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
