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From: jho@ihuxn.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Who has the right over our bodies?
Message-ID: <581@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Mar-84 11:37:34 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.581
Posted: Mon Mar 19 11:37:34 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Mar-84 01:25:48 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 52


We  have  seen  many  articles  in  net.abortion  addressing  the
following questions: Is the fetus a human?  When should the fetus
be considered  a  human?   These  are  interesting  but  academic
questions.  They  should not be the focus to our discussion.  The
real question that we should  address:   Who  has  the  right  on
another person's body?.

Does a person have a right  over  his/her  body?  In  most  cases
society  answers affirmatively to this question. Society does not
interfere when people smoke themselves to death with  cigarettes.
We don't have prohibition laws, though alcohol is responsible for
many  premature  deaths.   These  self   inflicted   abuses   are
considered  a  private  matter  even  if the abuser is a pregnant
woman.  Yet, the rule of non-intervention and privacy do not seem
to  apply to abortion.  The anti-abortion movement claims to have
the right over the bodies of others.

Anti-abortionist imply that from the  moment  of  conception  the
fetus  is human, and thus entitled for the protection of the law.
However, they go one step further, they require that the pregnant
woman's   body   should   provide  the  protection,  even if this
conflicts with  the  wishes  of  the  pregnant  woman.  Well,  if
society    wishes  to   protect   the   aborted   fetus's   life,
society  should find the solution to the problem, a solution that
does  not  violate  the right   of   a  woman   to   control  her
body.  An example of a solution that will not violate a   woman's
right   over   her   body:  Transplanting   the   fetus    in  an
artificial  womb,  or  in  the  womb  of  a  (willing)  surrogate
mother.    The   fact  that  society cannot provide an  alternate
womb at  the  present  time  should not  imply that the burden of
the  solution  should  be   imposed   on  the   pregnant   woman.
Abortion  should  be  a  moral  rather than a legal issue for the
pregnant woman!

The real abortion problem is that some members of society wish to
impose their moral and religious codes on others.  They refuse to
acknowledge the fundamental right of a woman over her  body  when
this right applies to abortion.  Let us remember that the dispute
between pro and anti abortionists  is  asymmetrical.   Those  who
are pro-choice want only to have the right over their own bodies.
They do not tell the anti-abortionists what they should  do  with
their   bodies.   On  the other hand, the anti-abortionists claim
to have the right to decide  for  others   what  they  should  or
should not do with their bodies!
-- 

Yosi Hoshen
Bell Laboratories
Naperville, Illinois
(312)-979-7321
Mail: ihnp4!ihuxn!jho