On 23/1/03 10:31 AM, "Terry Clifton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> JEFFERSON AND ROE VS. WADE >> >> Edward Smith >> ----------------------------------------------------------- > The widely held view that life begins at birth instead of conception is > absolutely absurd because in accepting that point of view requires us to > then conclude that the body of flesh inside the womb — that is alive (what > else can it possibly be since it is) growing and being prepared for its > birth — is indeed (by way of that convoluted logic) definitionally "dead."
G'day Terry, Thanks for drawing attention to this. You may recall that I affirm that "the body of flesh inside the womb" is indeed human life but not a human life in the sense of a human person. Edward Smith sets up his own Aunt Sally to knock down. I believe that abortion should be taken out of the ethics area and moved to medical health. Medicos are responsible people and I know that in their training they have to debate obstetric situations. They might come up with something similar to the following. "I am very sorry Mrs. X but your baby is dead inside your womb and for your continued health it needs to be removed. I will refer you to counseling so that you can work though all the issues." "I am very sorry Mrs. X but your baby will kill you if it continues to grow and for your continuing health it needs to be terminated. I will refer you to counseling so that you can work though all the issues." "Mrs. X, you are healthy and so is your baby. It is really unadvisable to terminate it, as there are a number of options you should consider. If you insist on termination then I will refer you to counseling first so that you can work though all the issues." "Mrs. X, you are healthy and but your baby has slight/moderate/severe birth defects. Before you even think of termination, I will refer you to counseling so that you can work though all the issues." I may not know all about women, but I listen, and I haven't met any women who would say "Yippeeee! Now I can have an abortion! That's great because I've always looked forward to having one of those!!!" There is always a degree of reluctance. Cheers Peter -- Peter Eyland Sydney Australia Web page: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~epe ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
