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From: pmd@cbscc.UUCP (Paul Dubuc)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Morality and Democracy
Message-ID: <4340@cbscc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Dec-84 10:11:54 EST
Article-I.D.: cbscc.4340
Posted: Wed Dec 12 10:11:54 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Dec-84 02:49:17 EST
References: <132@tekchips.UUCP>, <227@looking.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories , Columbus
Lines: 28


>Brad Tempelton:
>People who equate the morality of slavery with the morality of abortion
>are missing one important fact.  With slavery, as with murder and other
>crimes, there is a victim who jumps up and says, "I don't want this done
>to me."  A fetus isn't sentient and can no more jump up and complain than
>a cow can.

A slave who resisted slavery in the South was usually killed.  The fact
that someone can complain doesn't mean that their rights are recognised.
The slaves had to have advocates who were not slaves.

>If you want to argue about whether the fetus is sentient, that's fine,
>but there is a major difference here, in that nobody can deny the presence
>of the complaint with slavery, and nobody can even show evidence for
>the complaint with abortion.  (And before you post an article claiming
>that the fetus feels pain, let me remind you that what we are talking about
>is sentient thought, not pain detection.)

The ability to complain is not equivalent with sentient thought.  Even
if it were it is not a good criterion where the right to life is concerned.
One-year-olds can't complain either, but that doesn't make it OK to 
kill them (I hope).


-- 

Paul Dubuc	cbscc!pmd