Redstate

By azizhp Posted in User Blogs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

With characteristic clarity, Josh distilled the abortion issue into a number of very basic questions that are worth addressing:

Is an abortion the killing of a child? Is it the killing of a person? Is it the killing of a human? When does a child, person or human lose the inherent right to live for its own sake? Who determines that point?

Let me attempt to answer.Is abortion the killing of a human child?

I answer, yes, because I define "child" as "offspring of two humans". My wife was pregnant with our child the moment the stick turned pink; if the definition of child is to have meaning, it must be consistent across whether a pregnancy is wanted or not. Well, I claim it must; there are those who have a more situational approach.

Is it the killing of a person?

Here, I answer: no. I define personhood in a specific sense, of capabilities, of capacity. Potential for personhood is not the same as personhood. I hold that even after birth a baby is not yet a person in the sense that we are after a few years of growth. My daughter today is quite definitely a person; she has opinions, emotions, thoughts. A year ago, at age two, also true. A year prior, also true. Six months old; pretty sure. Four months old? quite clearly. Two months old? hints and clues as to emerging personhood abounded. Four weeks old? I had convinced myself that her smiles were no longer gas but were a reaction to me. Two weeks old: I thought I had detected a difference in her cries for food as opposed to being changed as opposed to .. well, nothing else, since food and discomfort were her only real concerns. One week old? she seemed to have some idea of things, in a very general sense. One day? well, she seemed to take to her bassinet ok that evening, and certainly wasn't shy of expressing her displeasure. Am I being evasive?

OK, I will commit. At one hour old she was probably not a person, by my understanding of what personhood entails. What of it? Is there some evil in acknowledging that her universe, at one hour old, was too new and too alien for her to have any real interaction with it?

Wait. I forgot about the womb. I told myself that she was indeed responding to stimuli - my warm hand on her mother's belly, feeling changes in position below. The few ultrasounds we have that showed her clearly in some mid-exploratory phase.

OK, let us rewind. At birth, there was some personhood - but a very overwhelmed person, to be sure. But there is indeed some point in the womb at which the very concept of reaction, and sensation, no longer apply. The blastocyst has no nerves, no structure, no processing center, no perception. Yet the baby in the womb responding to my voice and my hand had all these things. Was it awareness? I dont honestly know, but if there is a dividing line bwteen personhood and non-personhood, it must be prior to birth, based on my own opiion and experience. Your mileage may vary.

So, to answer the question, the question becomes not :is it a person" but "is it a person at the time of abortion" which I think is a much broader question. The answer then is "maybe, depends on when."

Is it the killing of a human?

well, yes since it is obviously a human blastocyst->fetus-?person->child and not a pig or giraffe.

(that one was a lot easier, thankfully!)

When does a child, person or human lose the inherent right to live for its own sake?

Ah.

is this a question about abortion?