If it's not wrong to kill an unborn child, then why isn't it equally "not wrong" to kill a child once it is born, or at any time of the mother's own choosing?
What reasons are there for killing a child before it is born that suddenly become less legitimate (rather than actually more so) once it is born?
Of course, one possible answer is already stated in your post: "Killing is not wrong per se. Killing is only wrong when society says it is wrong." Bland is not sure he agrees with that statement. He believes killing is wrong, regardless of what society says about it, but that it is justifiable under various circumstances (again, regardless of what society says about it). Bland also believes abortion is wrong, in the main, but that it can also be justified under various circumstances.
But consider a woman who privately brings a baby to term and half an hour later that baby is left to die in a trash can. Presumably this woman's motives were no different from a woman's whose fetus was properly aborted with all the blessings of medical science. Her timing was just bit "different".
Should she be punished? Should she be held accountable? In its brief few minutes or hours of life was this infant more or less of a real "person" than a four month old fetus?
Is its life suddenly more valuable, more precious, simply because it has drawn breath?
(Bland feels this is the ugliest, most distasteful post he has ever written, but he is interested in hearing anyone's answers...so he will go ahead and post it. And he is aware that infanticide is and has been a common practice throughout history). |
