Posted on 07/26/2006 5:33:50 AM PDT by Numbers Guy
Conception — the point at which life begins. At least it is according to the fundamentalist community, anyway. The stance of Right to Life supporters is that abortion is outright murder and deprivation of life. I disagree. How can you kill something that is not yet living? Besides, banning abortion deprives the mother of her rights to property and to the pursuit of happiness. A fetus is not a living human, and the mother has the right to decide to abort it.
During the first trimester of the pregnancy, the fetus is merely a wad of cells. A mere wad of cells doesn't equate to a fully functioning, living human being. A wad of cells cannot make its own cognitive decisions. A wad of cells doesn't have the capability to inhale or exhale with its lungs. A wad of cells cannot survive independently, as it relies completely on its mother for all its nutriment.
So why would anyone provide a wad of cells with the outrageous status of a living human being?
The point I am trying to make here is that a fetus is not a living human, and therefore, an abortion is not responsible for annihilating a human's life. Besides, in legal terms, the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v. Wade concluded that human life does not begin until life can be sustained outside of the womb. Medically speaking, premature fetuses can very rarely be kept alive if they are born before the pregnancy's sixth month, or the end of the second trimester.
The mother deserves every right to make a decision to abort her fetus. The supreme law of our land, the U.S. Constitution, guarantees Americans have the right to their property. Are pets not considered the property of a human? Humans provide pets with food, water and a habitat, just as a mother provides a fetus a habitat inside of the womb, along with food and oxygen.
And because mom houses the fetus — that not only required her X sex chromosome, but also gained half its chromosome pairs from her ovum — the fetus should be considered property of its mother. Not to mention, the wad of cells inside her doesn't have the ability to choose for itself.
Banning abortion would be a greater deprivation of basic human rights than continuing to uphold it. So why not allow the mother her innate right to decide whether or not this wad of cells will grow into a human?
If anything, a fetus is merely a parasitical creature that uses the mother as its host.
Tapeworms are parasites that house themselves in the intestinal tracts of humans, feeding off the food the host consumes. Comparatively, a fetus is little more than a tapeworm. It is quite common for humans to annihilate parasites with medications or toxins, so why not allow for fetuses to suffer the same fate?
Now let's compare the Right to Life stance of abortion to the tragic fate of many fertilized eggs.
Fundamentalists fiercely oppose abortion because they believe it is murder. They often recognize those who are "slaughtered" by holding vigils and other ceremonies.
Do any of these individuals realize that according to the National Institutes of Health, 25 percent of conceived embryos perish within the first six weeks due to complications such as failure to implant to the uterus wall? That's right — a quarter of all "humans" conceived end up "dying."
It would appear that the "loving" God of these fundamentalists is many more times guilty of murder than all the human race's abortionists combined.
If life begins at conception, why is it that Catholics and other fundamentalist groups don't have funerals for all these dead "babies"? Why not hold candlelit vigils for all who fail to implant themselves? Or wait, better yet, why don't we supply a birth certificate to all those embryos who died shortly after conception? Why not make them legal citizens too?
Do these last few statements seem absolutely asinine? Then some of you are in dire need of rethinking your anti-abortion stance.
Life begins when the baby is passed through the birth canal and exits the womb. At this point, the baby is no longer physically connected to the mother and no longer freeloading its nutrients and oxygen from mommy.
Shane Krouse is an MSU sophomore and State News columnist. Reach him at krousesh@msu.edu.
The point I am trying to make here is that a fetus is not a living human...
Okay, so then you're for exterminating anyone unconscious and on a ventilator?
Look, genius. DNA determines its humanity, and metabolic processes determine whether or not it's alive. You don't have to be a scientist to figure this out. On the other hand, you don't have to believe in God to play god and decide who, by your definition, fails to qualify as human.
That could very well be the argument used for partial birth abortion.
Bump for reference!
"During the first trimester of the pregnancy, the fetus is merely a wad of cells. A mere wad of cells doesn't equate to a fully functioning, living human being. A wad of cells cannot make its own cognitive decisions. A wad of cells doesn't have the capability to inhale or exhale with its lungs. A wad of cells cannot survive independently, as it relies completely on its mother for all its nutriment.
So why would anyone provide a wad of cells with the outrageous status of a living human being?"
This one is too easy to rip apart intellectually.
"Shane Krouse is an MSU sophomore..." Shane puts the sophomore in sophomoric. Perhaps we should use the name Shane as a synonym?
I was going to e-mail him but then thought better of it. After all, at that age no one can tell him anything, he thinks he knows it all. That is, except for his liberal professors who he no doubt brethlessly hangs on every word they speak.
If life begins at conception, why is it that Catholics and other fundamentalist groups don't have funerals for all these dead "babies"?
Shane, you ignorant slut. (yeah I know Shane's a guy)
I had an older cousin, now deceased, that had three miscarriages when I was a youngster. Now I can't recall a funeral, but there's three tiny little caskets containing those "dead babies" buried in a plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
If this so-called wad of cells is left alone, what will be the result 100% of the time?
INSANE. Life begins at conception. People can pretend that isn't so, but it is!
When women miscarry, Shane, they say she lost the baby, they don't say she lost the fetus.
You WILL have this BABY!
That is VERY powerful!
???
Has Shane ever wondered where the baby gets its nutrients after it is born? Does he think they just pop out and head straight for McDonalds?
Shane, on that basis, a newborn is barely at a higher level than the first-trimester embryo/fetus. Would you support killing the newborn?
The mother deserves every right to make a decision to abort her fetus. The supreme law of our land, the U.S. Constitution, guarantees Americans have the right to their property. Are pets not considered the property of a human? Humans provide pets with food, water and a habitat, just as a mother provides a fetus a habitat inside of the womb, along with food and oxygen.
Killing pets is generally considered a distasteful act in civilized society, even when it's merciful to the pet, let alone when it's not. Killing pets on general principles is more likely to get you in trouble with the law than aborting a child. Probably not the analogy you were looking for.
Good points.
It is not really about abortion; it is about growing Catholics.
Where are the funerals for the not-implanted-embryos?
Where are they?
Where are the last rights?
Where is the sympathy? One fourth of embryos are dying. Where is the outrage?
Bueler?
I agree with the earlier poster who speculated that he's got a current/former girlfriend out there with whom he had a fetus/abortion, and now he's having trouble dealing with it.
During the first trimester of the pregnancy, the fetus is merely a wad of cells.
The "choice" is made at conception.
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