Re: New Abortion Quiz

There are many medical ethicists that would strongly argue against your
conception of what human is. And they may not be correct either, but you
cannot solve the abortion debate, by just claiming that a fertilized egg is
HUMAN.

You have to be more convincing. What is your basis for this claim? Is it
that the egg has become heterozygous? But, any part of our body that we cut
off has heterozygous cells. So, unless you want to claim that using a
loofah is killing a human, you need to be more precise. ;) HeLa cells are
a heterozygous human cell culture that has been perpetuated for many
generations, and no one claims that these are a person.

But seriously. If you want to use biblical evidence about when you think
"humanity", or perhaps personhood as the rationalists would call it, begins,
feel free to do so. This may not convince unbelievers, but I would listen.

Think of this, whatever your definition of human is, it will have
implications at the other end of the life span. And, as a neurologist, I
have a lot of experience with the other end, and I agree that whether or not
an entity can sustain its own life is not required of being a human. At
least that is my opinion on the matter.

Dont just make a claim of what it is to be human, prove it to me.

Jack

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Yates" <billyates@billyates.com>
To: "George Murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com>; <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: New Abortion Quiz

> George--
>
> Essentially your argument says it's OK to extract stem cells since we
> don't know yet if we're killing one or two or more human beings.
>
> But, I will modify my sdtatement to:
>
> * The fertilized egg is HUMAN, one or more human beings (to account for
> the possibility of multiple births), albeit in a very early stage of
> development.
>
> Blessings,
>
> --Bill
>
> George Murphy wrote:
>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Yates" <billyates@billyates.com>
>> To: <asa@calvin.edu>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 4:14 PM
>> Subject: Re: New Abortion Quiz
>>
>>
>>> Let's get down to basics...
>>>
>>> * Humans begin as the union of sperm and egg.
>>> * The DNA of the fertilized egg is human DNA, a combination of the
>>> parent's DNA.
>>> * The fertilized egg is HUMAN, a human being, albeit in a very early
>>> stage of development.
>>> * The fertilized egg is ALIVE. It takes in energy from the mother and
>>> grows.
>>> * Therefore, we can accurately describe the fertilized egg as a LIVING
>>> HUMAN BEING.
>>> * We apply different terms to the developing human being depending on
>>> its stage of development.
>>> * Despite the different terms--blastocyst, embryu, fetus, baby--the
>>> developing human being is STILL A LIVING HUMAN BEING.
>>> * At the earlier stages of development, the developing human being is
>>> incapable of self-sustaining its life.
>>> * The fact that it is incapable of self-sustaining life does not negate
>>> or invalidate its essential character as a LIVING HUMAN BEING.
>>> * At various points in the human life span--infancy, accident, illness,
>>> during surgery--a person may be incapable of self-sustaining life.
>>> * The fact that one may be incapable of self-sustaining life does not
>>> negate or invalidate one's essential character as a LIVING HUMAN BEING.
>>> * The fact that one may be less capable than another of performing
>>> certain acts, ranging from cognition to ambulation, due to birth defect,
>>> accident, or illness, does not negate or invalidate their essential
>>> character as a LIVING HUMAN BEING.
>>> * Human beings are intrinsically significant and of value, not only to
>>> other human beings, but even more importantly, to God.
>>> * Therefore, the taking of any human life is an act of great import and
>>> not to be taken lightly.
>>> * There are very limited circumstances when the taking of human life is
>>> allowed: self-defense and war.
>>> * The taking of a human life for the convenience of another is immoral
>>> as it reduces the victim to the role of commodity for the pleasure of
>>> another and denies their essential worth as a human being.
>>> * Abortion, from sacrificing a fertilized egg for its stem cells, to
>>> "partial birth abortion", is the taking of a HUMAN LIFE.
>>
>>
>> Bill -
>>
>> One thing that is problematic about your argument is the apparently
>> innocuous little word "a" as in "a living human being." The reason that
>> that's questionable is that for a few days after conception (I will let
>> the embryologists try to say just when) it is possible for the conceptus
>> to develop into _two_ - or even more - living human beings. Thus one
>> cannot speak unambiguously of _a_ human being at such early stages of
>> development. This suggests that one can take a strong position against
>> abortion of a fetus at later stages of development and still hold
>> consistently that destruction of a conceptus at very early stages, for
>> stem cell research or other reasons, may be legitimate.
>>
>> Shalom
>> George
>> http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> --Bill Yates
> --mailto:billyates@billyates.com
> --http://www.billyates.com
> --CD Reviewer, Webmaster, Roots66.com
> --Editor, WorldVillage.com's Believer's Weekly
> --Theron Services: Web Design, Editing, Writing
Received on Wed Oct 13 20:12:38 2004