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From: emh@bonnie.UUCP (Edward M. Hummel)
Newsgroups: net.abortion,net.politics,net.religion,net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Abortion and Capital Punishment
Message-ID: <302@bonnie.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Nov-84 10:00:09 EST
Article-I.D.: bonnie.302
Posted: Wed Nov 28 10:00:09 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Nov-84 04:51:04 EST
References: <1782@burdvax.UUCP> <779@ariel.UUCP> <359@klipper.UUCP> <315@qantel.UUCP> <2794@ucbcad.UUCP> <254@rlgvax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Whippany NJ
Lines: 34

>Though I don't at all agree with his ideas, I must confess
>there are times when killing humans seems to be the most humane
>thing to do.
>A case in point: the starving children of Ethiopia and other
>African countries. Scientists tell us that these children are already
>so severly malnourished that even if they were to survive and grow up,
>they would be so severly retarted 
>...
>isn't it the most humane thing to kill those children (who would
>otherwise grow up retarded) and end the misery now, rather than
>propagate it for generations to come?

	A much better solution would be to keep them alive in
special care centers where they would be available as donors
for organ transplants.  Thousands of people, many of them children,
die each year because of a lack of ready (fresh) donors.
Hospitals and prospective organ recipients would be more than
willing to foot the bills for the center.
	I am sure that the people who objected to the Baby Fae
experiment because it was cruel to the baboon would welcome alternative
organ sources.  In fact, maybe it makes sense to do away with
animals for experimentation all together!  Retarded Ethiopian
children would make much better subjects in laboratory experiments.
	Now if there was only some way to save human fetuses for
the same purpose ...

	Maybe if we require abortions to be postponed until
the third month.  That wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for
the mother (or temporary life support system) and would give
doctors the opportunity to save some percent of the abortions
for future use.

					Ed Hummel
	{ihnp4,cmcl2,burl,allegra,...}!clyde!bonnie!emh