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Politics : To be a Liberal,you have to believe that.....

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To: E who wrote (453)	9/6/1999 4:43:00 PM
From: Edwarda	Read Replies (2) of 6418

Embryos do become fetuses, and fetuses do become children, and it is hard for civilized people to decide exactly at what point the line between fetus and child should be drawn. Of course you can evade the decision, if you simply substitute an article of religious faith -- an opinion -- (that is precisely what it is and all it is) for the hard job of figuring out an answer to the problem of how one makes stipulations that neither defy common sense nor tolerate infanticide. Dear E, let us set aside religion for a moment. You yourself have raised the deeper problem, that of definition. It is not all that long ago that under the law in many areas women were not defined as full persons, African Americans were not defined as full persons, white males without property were not defined as full persons. On this issue how does one arrive at the most inclusive definition of a "person"? This is the reasoning that lies behind the standard "err on the side of caution" response. A further thought, one I just posted on "feelies" as well: Philosophically, does the fact that people are doing things of which a society does not approve--e.g., shooting heroin--lead to the conclusion that the practice should be legalized? Like you I am old enough to remember the horrors of illegal abortions, yet I do not feel safe with the conclusion that these horrors justify legal and safe abortions. BTW, I have always thought that the Roman Catholic Church made a terrible mistake in continuing to condemn both abortion and contraception. It could have moved back altogether from its previous stance on contraception--this pronouncement was not made ex cathedra so it could have been rescinded--while holding its position on abortion. This shift could have made such a difference in the recent history of the abortion debate because of the influence that Rome still holds in so much of the world.

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