abortion

Barry Deutsch itsbarry at attbi.com
Fri Oct 11 09:54:39 PDT 2002


Dennis wrote:


> Right, and kids can't drive cars, either. I think there's a slight
> difference between waiting till you're old enough to vote and having your
> heart stopped and your developing body tossed in a trash can. Then again,
ho
> hum.

If you're too emotional to have a rational discussion, maybe you should refrain?

Of course there's a difference; well, duh! The question is, is the difference an important one for the particular argument we're having?

An infant will develop into an adult; an adult has the right to vote; it does not follow from this that an infant has the right to vote. Therefore, the mere fact that A will develop into B doesn't mean that A has all the rights B has.

The point is that just because a fetus - or, in the case of many abortions, a pre-fetus - might someday develop into a person with rights does not logically establish that the fetus has the same rights as a person.

Now, you can go on all day with heart-tugging images ("developing body tossed in a trash can!"), and I can't match you in that regard. But no matter how many such images you come up with, it remains true that you haven't given any credible argument for why a fetus (or pre-fetus) has the same rights as a person, and the one argument you have given ("it may someday develop into a person, therefore it has the same rights as a person") is nonsense.

Barry



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