From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!ihnp4!ihnp1!dolan Newsgroups: net.women Title: Rational Argument Against Abortion Article-I.D.: ihnp1.163 Posted: Fri Jan 28 09:13:55 1983 Received: Sat Jan 29 03:06:43 1983 Reply-To: dolan@ihnp1.UUCP (Mike Dolan) This article will probably result in some flaming, but I ask that you read what I have to say with an open, objective mind. Then you can decide to flame. A recent article in this newsgroup indicated that the writer felt that, given no definition of the start of human life, each person should decide for him/herself the morality of abortion. I wish to offer a purely rational, non-religious argument for the humanness of each person from the moment of conception. A person of 85 years is accepted as human; a person of 5 years is accepted as human; a person of 5 seconds of age is accepted as human. During the birth process, a child can begin to breathe even before it is entirely out of the birth canal. At what point does a person become human? What is the difference between a newly born child who is still attached by its umbilical to the placenta which is still attached to its mother's womb, and a child still within the womb? I submit that there is no difference between a child who has just been born and had its umbilical severed and a child which is just about to be born other than the life-support system providing oxygen and food to that child. A newly born child depends upon its lungs for oxygen and its own mouth and digestive tract for food. It depends upon its own bodily waste removal mechanisms, and it depends upon the older humans around it for physical security. A child which is just about to be born is depending upon the life-support system of its mother's womb for oxygen, food, and waste removal. It depends upon the physical enclosure of the womb for physical security. Other than the difference in life-support systems, there is no difference between a newly born child and a child about to be born. If the newly born child is human, and our laws and human history have declared it so, then the about-to-be-born child must be human too. But then let us move backward in time as the baby was developing in the womb. What was added during that time that suddenly made the baby a human being? The only thing that the baby received from its mother during the nine months that it lived inside her womb was oxygen, food, waste removal, and physical security. There is no magical moment along the way when "something" happens to suddenly transform the baby into a human being. The womb is only a life-support system that provides protection, oxygen, waste removal, and nourishment for the nine month period. Nothing else. If the child is human 5 seconds after it is born, it must be human 5 seconds before it traverses the birth canal. And because nothing is supplied to the child during the nine month period when it is living in its mother's womb, other than food, oxygen, waste removal, and protection, then it must have been human from the very beginning of its existence, the moment of conception. There is no magical moment when a child suddenly "becomes" human. It always was. There are many powerful emotions associated with the abortion argument. I ask that you consider what I have said objectively. Let the emotional part of you sit quietly aside while your rationality examines my arguments. If you can find an error in my reasoning, please let me know. I used to take a casual accepting view of abortion until I forced myself to sit back and examine the facts that I have referred to above. You may decide to "flame on" now. That is your privilege. But consider the tremendous urge to "flame" that is felt by those who argue against the legality of abortion. If one accepts the fact that a child is truly a human being from the moment of conception, then one must be truly, overwhelmingly horrified at the 15 million abortion deaths that have occurred in the last 10 years. Hitler's holocaust had nothing on modern day America. There are many social issues which arise when we accept the humanity of the unborn child. We must, as a nation, rise to meet those challenges. As a people, we are all trying to achieve the "rights" that we feel are ours. It seems that we have forgotten the meaning of the word "responsibility". Mike Dolan Bell Labs Room 1B-226 Naperville-Wheaton Rd. Naperville, IL 60566 P.S. Thanks for taking the time to read and think about what I have to say.