asterisk8 said:
Warbler said:
They believe you become a human when born, therefore to them the fetus is not human life.
That is not true at all. I don't know, and have never read about, anyone who believes that a fetus is not human until born. Most pro-choice advocates would agree that a fetus can be considered human when the cerebral cortex begins processing information like sounds and sensations outside the womb, which is around 5 months. That happens to fall in line with the 1992 Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which set the upper limit for legal abortions in the US at 22 weeks, the point at which a fetus is viable outside the womb.
I would not listen to anyone who tries to argue that a 38-week-old fetus is not human. That's just nonsense.
It's not just nonsense, as many abortions have been performed past that legal limit with no legal action pursued. Can't think of that doctor who was murdered two or three years back. I would certainly never advocate murdering him, but I would certainly think that he should have gotten in trouble for the numerous post-22 week abortions he performed.
Nevertheless, this timeframe is still too arbitrary to me. Again, refer to the scenario I brought up before. Lets say we have a man in a coma. We know he will recover fully within 9 months. We see little brain activity in our MRIs and CT scans. We know he will feel no pain if we simply inject a lethal drug into his IV. His medical bills are destroying the lives of his family members. Can we kill him? According to the general arguments of personhood, for the duration of his coma, or at least until greater brain activity returns, he is not a person. Can we kill someone who is temporarily not a person? Heck, he may even awake to an extremely disappointing life, paralyzed, neglected or abused in a long-term facility. Should we spare him "a fate worse than death"?