From: utzoo!decvax!genradbo!linus!security!tfl Newsgroups: net.women Title: Re: abortion Article-I.D.: security.185 Posted: Wed Mar 9 13:25:20 1983 Received: Thu Mar 10 02:36:21 1983 Unfortunately, the issue of abortion has been reduced to the argument: if a fetus is a person => abortion is morally wrong if a fetus is not a person => abortion is not morally wrong The problem is, neither of this is a particularly justified implication. Also, as we've seen over the years, there are no conclusive arguments either way. So, being ambivolent on the question (thank god I'll never have to decide), let me pose some questions that should be answered even before one attempts either of the two arguments above: 1) What is a `person?' 2) Is it ever morally correct for someone to take the life of a person? If so, what are the circumstances? 3) Is it ever morally correct to take the life of any living thing? If so, what are the circumstances? 4) Is it ever legally correct to take the life of any living thing? If so, what are the circumstances? 5) Is it ever legally correct to take the life of a person? If so, what are the circumstances? 6) How far should the law go to enforce individual morality? At what point does this become intrusion into one's right to privacy? 7) What are criteria one should use for deciding moral questions? Majority rule? Intuition? Reason? Scripture? Actually, there are many more questions than the seven produced above. I hope that this list makes it apparent to at least some of you how superficial the reasoning on this subject has been so far, and how unjustified most people's opinions (pro and con) are on this subject. ......utterly confused, but at least still trying---tfl