From: "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@invweb.net>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 22:32:58 +0800
To: tom <tom@Empire.Net>
Subject: Re: Censorial leftists (Was: Interesting article)
In-Reply-To: <199712041316.IAA18769@Empire.Net>
Message-ID: <199712041419.JAA30815@users.invweb.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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In <199712041316.IAA18769@Empire.Net>, on 12/04/97 
   at 08:16 AM, tom <tom@Empire.Net> said:

>Semantics.

>When does a piece of tissue become a human being? When is it a 'life'?

>First define your terms. Then talk about murder.

Hmmmm well the safest answer to this is at the point of conception though
I would imagine that it is hard for most to consider a couple of cells
life. :=/

Unfortunately trying to pin an exact point after conception leads into an
endless hair-splitting debate (should it be 1 week, 1 month, 3 months,
...). The current method of considering "birth" as the defining moment is
quite arbitrary as is "viability outside the womb" as science is ever
pushing this back. 

Considering we are talking life and death here don't you think it would be
wise to error on the side of caution?

I think everyone here would be outraged if the State started implementing
capital punishment without being sure that the person is guilty. "Sorry we
don't know if you did it or not but what the hell we'll gas you anyway."
It should be noted that many who are against capital punishment are
against it for that very reason. I have always beleived that executions
should be public. If a society can't stomach to watch what the government
does on their behalf then the governmnet shouldn't be doing it.

I find it quite odd that a society can condone the murder of a 6mo old
child so long as it is still in the womb yet would be horrified if the
same thing was done to a child in an incubator in the neo-natal ward.

Who knows maybe the pro-choice crowd *does* approve of a doctor taking a
big pair of pliers, crushing the skull then ripping the arms and legs off
a 6mo old then pulling out the shop vac to clean up the mess?

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