--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Charlie Bell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 15/07/2006, at 3:43 PM, jdiebremse wrote: > >> We weren't discussing abortion. > > > > Yes we are. We are talking about conceiving a number of > > children, > > and "eliminating" the children of the undesired sex. > > As I pointed out elsewhere, this is the main assumption of > difference. If you regard an undifferentiated pre-implantion ball > of cells as a "child", then of course you're going to have a > different view to those who think humanity and sentience and so on > are sliding scales (that an adult has more rights than a child has > more rights than an infant than a foetus than an embryo than a > zygote than an ovum).
I know that it is oh-so-fashionable in these parts to say that everything comes in "shades of grey", and contrast that to pale- conservative JDG who sees things in black-and-white, but sometimes things really are in black-and-white. To put it another way, the right to life is like virginity - either you have it or you don't. (Apologies to the former UN Ambassador from Brazil on that one.) There is no sliding scale on the right to life. Either the organism has the right, or it does not. > A blastocyst is not a child to most people, John. Many, possibly > most according to some studies, zygotes *fail to implant* > and "die" in the toilet or soaked up in a panty-liner. The wastage > is naturally huge. Clearly, until they're able to implant, > they're disposable, *biologically* speaking. Sorry, Charlie, but this is not sound logic. The logical conculsion of what you are saying is that "if the infant mortality rate is high, then infanticide is morally acceptable." I hope that makes it clear. Its completely irrelevant how many children die naturally in determining whether or not it is acceptable to kill a child. The same applies to the fetus, blastocyst, zygote, and even to the cow - the number that would die naturally is completely irrelevant in deciding whether it is moral to intentionally kill another. And if we want to talk biologically, from the very moment of conception, that which you refer to as a zygote, blastocyst, and fetus, are all nevertheless individual members of homo sapiens sapiens - *biologically* speaking, of course. JDG _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
