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And my honest question is why we should respect the opinion of anyone who says, "Yeah yeah, sure: different DNA, heartbeat, brainwaves, human child -- but I still want to kill it, and to do that I have to not care about the rest, so... I don't care about the rest!" Seriously, why should we respect that opinion any more than we would respect the opinion of someone who says "I personally believe as an article of religious faith that any fourteen year old who eats too much and has a surly attitude is, by definition, not human, and so, since he's as much a part of my body as he was at 4 months, I believe I have the right to 'terminate parenthood' [i.e. kill him]."

Personally, I completely agree with you. I do not respect their decision either. However, that is not at issue. The issue is should the police power of the government be used to keep a person from depriving another person of their life when the definition of a "person" has no answer? In the latter example, virtually everyone recognizes that we are talking about killing a living person. In the former, we will debate it until Kindom Come.

Honestly, I have no answer. I know what I believe but that is different from many. It is the sole issue with the libertarian philosophy that I have been unable to reconcile.

The issue is should the police power of the government be used to keep a person from depriving another person of their life when the definition of a "person" has no answer?

What makes you a person, and what business is it of the government if I should choose to deprive you of that life?

Then take my answer. Of course the government has the power to — in fact, not only the power, but the obligation, to — protect the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! That is what it is for!

You seem to grant and miss my point at the same time. I am saying that the debate about personhood is objectively over. Science has spoken, logic speaks, the facts speak. There is no point in the continuum of development from conception to death when it is anything other than a human being.

Dan