Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!mazur From: mazur@inmet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: Abortion - (nf) Message-ID: <992@inmet.UUCP> Date: Sun, 4-Mar-84 00:12:15 EST Article-I.D.: inmet.992 Posted: Sun Mar 4 00:12:15 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 6-Mar-84 02:33:40 EST Lines: 40 #R:decwrl:-582300:inmet:10900054:000:2007 inmet!mazur Feb 29 22:51:00 1984 The point about abortion that I was trying to make is that from a rational viewpoint, it seems to me, it is nothing less than the stopping of human biological life. And once a reason is allowed to be used for the taking of that life, then that reason should be good for any place along the continuum of biological life from the moment of conception to whatever age before an otherwise "natural" death. It seems to me that we allow legal murder in the form of capital punishment. According to your logic, that means that if we can justify taking a person's life on the basis of his/her criminal actions, it won't be long before we decide that shoplifting will be punishable by death :-). Actually there are also several other instances where "unnatural" death may seem a possible alternative. For example, children who are born with severe birth defects. A program here, Miller's Court, recently had as it's subject the case of parents who had decided not to prolong their newborn's life with painful surgery. A clergyman heard of this decision and took the family to court for custody. In this fake court setup, the jury decided to take custody away from the parents. There was also the scenario enacted in the movie "Whose Life Is It Anyways?", where Richard Dreyfuss portrays a quadriplegic who chooses death as opposed to the mechanical preservation of life. What about the fight of Karen Ann Quinlan's parents to have their daughter removed from life support systems? Abortion has nothing to do with any of this. This would exist even if abortion was outlawed. In fact, even if abortions were outlawed, women would still find ways to get them. You may find a burning saline solution tough to stomach, but I find having abortions performed with a coat hanger equally tough to stomach. It would seem to me though, that with proper education and inexpensive, easily obtained birth control, the need for abortion could be reduced. Beth Mazur {ima,harpo,esquire}!inmet!mazur