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From: tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Torek's SECOND ANNUAL CONCLUSIVE ARGUMENT :->
Message-ID: <825@ihlpg.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 02:37:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihlpg.825
Posted: Fri Jul 12 02:37:35 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Jul-85 14:08:08 EDT
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> [Paul Torek]
> In my view there are two crucial issues in the abortion debate; I
> intend to discuss one of them.  The one I will NOT discuss right
> now is this "pro-choice" argument as stated by a "pro-life"r:
> 
> > (a) If I don't want the baby, it must be "trespassing", and
> > therefore it's OK to kill it (analogue to property rights) 
> 
> I have discussed this before; my view, stated without repeating
> my argument, is that argument (a) is valid only in rape cases.
> What I want to do is advocate an answer to the even more controversial
> question
> 	"when, or under what conditions, in the development of
> 	an individual of the species Homo sapiens, does it
> 	become a proper object of concern or protection (and
> 	how much and what sort of concern and protection)?"
> 
> This question is deliberately phrased to go right to the heart of the 
> issue; questions about what constitutes "humanity" or "life" are 
> avoided AS THEY ARE NOT THE ULTIMATE ISSUES.

Bravo to Paul Torek!  I don't agree with his answer, but at least
he asks the right question.  It is perfectly consistent to
define human life to begin at point X in time, and still not advocate
full protection of the law for the human organism until some later time.
Yet much of the traffic in this newsgroup consists of "pro-life"
and "pro-choice" advocates each arguing that his/her definition of
human life is the true one.  In all seriousness, the question of
when life begins should be moved to net.philosophy, net.semantics,
or net.religion.  Net.abortion posters should address themselves
to the real issue, as so succinctly stated by Mr. Torek, and repeated
here for emphasis:
> 	"When, or under what conditions, in the development of
> 	an individual of the species Homo sapiens, does it
> 	become a proper object of concern or protection (and
> 	how much and what sort of concern and protection)?"
-- 
Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL  ihnp4!ihlpg!tan