Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/12/84; site aero.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!aero!foy From: foy@aero.ARPA (Richard Foy ) Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: Re: Some Doctors agree with Arndt, . . . Gosh! But! Message-ID: <378@aero.ARPA> Date: Tue, 20-Aug-85 12:00:30 EDT Article-I.D.: aero.378 Posted: Tue Aug 20 12:00:30 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 05:08:08 EDT References: <3658@decwrl.UUCP> Reply-To: foy@aero.UUCP (Richard Foy (Veh. Systems)) Organization: The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA Lines: 38 Summary: In article <3658@decwrl.UUCP> arndt@squirt.DEC writes: > >From a recent Church newspaper: > >"Sixty prominent physicians have recently declared that the 'biological >facts' show that the unborn are living human beings. The doctors, including >Regards, > >Ken Arndt The question of living human being or not is not a scientific question. The type of questions that are scietific are: Is the fetus viable, what does it look like, does it respond to stimulus etc. These are only loosely related to the question of being human. Being human is a question of definition. That is what aspects of a being are necessary and sufficient for one to call it human. The definition of human has varied widely from time to time and from people to people as has been amply discussed on this net. One person has suggested the idea of two stages of being human. One that begins with conception and the other which perhaps starts around the time of birth which is necessary for a being to be a human being. I think this is a reasonable definition. There is also data to support the idea that something happens after conception that makes a step change in the nature of the being. People have been interviewed under hypnosis and have report events which occurred around the 6th month after conception which seem to support the idea that the soul enters the body at that time. This is the only data that I have seen which supports any stage of development being necessary to be fully human. It is interesting to note that the time pretty much corresponds with the Supreme Court decisions. I reiterate however that I am a man and thus this is provided for information only. I don't believe that men should have any say in the question of abortion.