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From: pauly@zaphod.UUCP (Paul Yeager)
Newsgroups: net.abortion,net.legal,net.women
Subject: Re: Is Abortion Murder? yes and no.
Message-ID: <323@zaphod.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 12:05:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: zaphod.323
Posted: Tue Aug  6 12:05:17 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 20:03:08 EDT
References: <251@SCIRTP.UUCP>
Reply-To: pauly@zaphod.UUCP (Paul Yeager)
Distribution: net
Organization: Develcon Electronics, Saskatoon, SK
Lines: 47
Xref: linus net.abortion:1595 net.legal:1647 net.women:6413

In article <251@SCIRTP.UUCP> todd@SCIRTP.UUCP (Todd Jones) writes:

>I am curious as to fellow-netters thoughts on the following:
>
>If abortion is to be considered murder, 
>the following must be objectively true:
>
>	   The fetus, in any or all of its stages, must be
>	   a human life, distinct from the mother.
>
>If the fetus is not a human life, distinct from the life of 
>the mother, abortion cannot be considered murder since it then
>would not be the taking of a human life.
>
>Scientists, despite Jesse Helm's assertions, will never be able 
>to prove that a fetus, in any stage, is a HUMAN life since the
>concept of humanness is not biologically defined.
>
>While no reasonable argument could contend that a post-birth
>homo-sapiens is human, endless, and unproveable, discussion
>about the humanity of in utero homo-sapiens will always exist.

Todd, didn't you mean 'pre-birth homo sapiens'??

>Each individual considering an abortion must come to grips with their
>own concept of fetal humanity and their decision to elect or refuse an
>abortion should be respected by ALL persons regardless of their
>personal views. 

This last paragraph of Todd's says all I believe needs to be said.
Unfortunately, the world contains entirely too many people who think
that their personal moral code is so superior to anything else, that
it should be forced upon all of us.  The decision to have an abortion
or not is very complicated, and the considerations involved are 
different in most every case.  The only person(s) capable of making
that decision, is(are) the mother (and the father if he's around and
inclined to care).  I have been involved in such a decision myself,
one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I wouldn't have anyone
else make the decision for us.  Remember that we're talking about
two or three lives here, not just one.

Paul Yeager {the known universe}!ihnp4!sask!zaphod!pauly

"To thine own self be true,
 And it shall follow as the day the night,
 Thou cannot be false to any man."
			The Bard