murder v. killing.

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Marta:
>I support abortion but take the Adrienne Asche's position that it crosses the
>line when one aborts because one does not like the characteristic of the fetus
>(sex, disability, hair color, whatever else they will know about us in the
>womb) rather than having the abortion because the conditions in one's life
>makes that choice necessary to abort ANY fetus.  This way I challenge
>assumptions about disablement as one would challenge the assumption that
>having
>a boy is more desirable than having a girl.  I realize many many people view
>disability as a primary reason to abort. Trouble is the more market oriented
>our society becomes, the less willing parents are to have a non "perfect"
>baby.

We may ask what causes an abortion based upon the knowledge of the
condition of a fetus.  The causes must be two-fold: (1) material (under
social conditions where parenting is a very much private affair, it takes
more of everything -- time, money, and other resources -- to raise a
disabled child); and (2) ideological (disabled persons are often regarded
as less than fully human, and certainly unequal to non-disabled persons.
The removal of these two causes must make any possible conflict between
women's right to abortion and disability rights (as you conceive of it)
disappear.

I think of the question of sex-selective abortion in favor of males in the
same manner.  In a society where men are not regarded as more valuable
(materially and ideologically), sex selection in favor of men won't take
place.

Yoshie