One of the basic problems of any human society is to decide what human life forms are in the "we" group and deserve full protection of the laws, and what human life forms are in the "they" group and do not, but are okay to kill without needing to go through the full protections of the legal system.
Blacks at one time in our societial culture, although understood to be human (or human like) life forms, were not true people, but were "theys," and it was okay to own and kill them if you wanted to, exactly as a woman now has the right to own and kill a fetus.
In Nazi Germany various groups -- including homosexuals and jews -- were "theys," and it was not only okay but desirable to isolate, imprison, and destroy them.
In some societies it has been a son's duty to kill his father.
In war, it is still acceptable to kill the enemy, both soldiers and civilians, even down to day old infants who have done nothing to deserve death but be born in the wrong place.
The abortion debate is simply an extension of this same question. Does this human life form deserve the protection of the laws, so that one can only destroy it after submittal to the approval of the justice system, or is this human life form a "they" in the same class as slaves in 1800, jews in 1943, etc., which it is acceptable for this society to allow to be killed freely and without remorse? |
