Your historical account is bogus.
Well, I haven't researched the subject exhaustively, but I do know that the US Constitution defined citizens as those born here, born to citizens, or naturalized. Slaves counted as part of the population for purpose of apportionment, albeit only at a percentage of a citizen. If fetuses were people, you'd think they'd have gotten some acknowledgement from the founding fathers, some percentage of a person.
Should we mandate abortion when we consider the parents unfit?
That is beneath you, Neo. You know I didn't suggest that. I think the government should stay out of it, neither restrict nor mandate.
Saying that they would be better off dead if they are not born inton ideal circumstances, or even implying it, is revolting......
I, myself, chose not to have children in part because I could not be confident I could give them a good enough opportunity for success in life. Are you revolted by that? If so, why? If not, what is the difference between not conceiving and taking a day-after pill? Do you find that line easy to draw? Seems to me you'd have to be a fatalist to do so.
Let me ask you, if there were a button that you could push where there was a 25% chance that you would be killing a baby, would it be moral to push it (we are abstracting from justificatory considerations)?
Of course not. And I don't see what that has to do with anything. I would only "push a button" to assist someone who was suffering and who had made an informed decision to speed up death. I would do that gladly and lovingly, although with great difficulty, just as I would approach an abortion decision with great difficulty.
That automatically raises the question of where the line is drawn pre- birth.
I think one can reasonably draw a line at conception or birth. I think one can also reasonably draw a line at viability. There's a line to be drawn between embryohood and fetushood, too. Another line to be drawn at using birth control. And another line somewhere between kissing and intercourse. The Catholic church used to be fond of that last one--the only reason for having sex was to make a baby. It's still fond of the next to last one. There are lots of places to draw lines. I don't see how your choice is so special that you feel justified in imposing it on others, other that your general comfort level with asserting your own views as the standard.
I do not have a problem with your choice in line drawing, only in legislating your line. I have posted this before, that I have great difficulty tossing out trimmings from a philodendron. Rather, I feel compelled to put them in water and give them a chance at life. I respect your line. I'm only questioning imposing it on others. |
