Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihnp1.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!ihnp1!dolan
From: dolan@ihnp1.UUCP (Mike Dolan)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: question is not irrelevant
Message-ID: <217@ihnp1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Mar-84 10:32:51 EST
Article-I.D.: ihnp1.217
Posted: Mon Mar 12 10:32:51 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Mar-84 08:19:19 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 40


"rabbit!jj" in an earlier article claimed that the ability to exist
outside of the womb without extraordinary mechanical support was the
distinguishing criteria of a human being.  In a followup to that
article I asked stated that if that criteria was applied evenly,
someone on a life-support system in a critical care unit of a
hospital would not be considered human.  I asked how that fact could
be reconciled with the stated claim.

In a response, "rabbit!jj" said that my question was irrelevant
because 
	"A human being on a heart/lung machine is ALREADY a human
	 being."

My question is not irrelevant.  If the ability to live outside the
womb without extraordinary mechanical support is the basis for
declaring someone to be a human being, then the absence of that
ability is the basis for declaring someone to no longer be a human
being.  "rabbit!jj's" statement that I quoted above implies some
other attribute that makes one a human being.

I will stick my neck out and interpret what I think is the
underlying thought in the above quote.  I stand ready to be
corrected if I am wrong.  It seems that "rabbit!jj" is stating that
when a child can live outside the womb without extraordinary
mechanical support, it has proven itself to be a human being.  Which
is a much different statement than that the ability to live outside
the womb without extraordinary mechanical support is what makes one
a human being.

So, let me go back to my original question.  If the newly born child
is a human being, and the fertilized ovum is not, then what is it
that makes that "thing" into a human being during the time in the
womb, and when does it occur?  

Have a good day,
Mike Dolan
AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
ihnp4!ihnp1!dolan