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From: tdn@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA (Thomas Newton)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Fetuses, Rights, & Responsibilities
Message-ID: <421@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 18:46:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-s.421
Posted: Sun Aug 11 18:46:56 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 03:16:29 EDT
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 19

> . . . At present in our society, persons before the age of 18 are not
> entitled to full priviledges.  Perhaps a case could be made that at an
> earlier age even fewer priviledges are granted.  Perhaps that it exactly
> what we have (though not expressed in so many words) with the present
> abortion laws.

Presumably, the rights that teenagers, children, and infants have are being
restricted for their own good.  It's possible to get hurt in various ways by
things like working instead of going to school, signing legal contracts that
you don't understand, and having sex.  So for many things, we say "you can't
do this until you have reached point X in your life" -- for driving, point X
is age >= 16, for signing legal contracts, it is age >= 18, and so on.  Using
age as the measurement of competency is bogus, but that's another topic.

I don't see how killing a fetus can be construed as being for the fetus's own
good.  Quite the contrary.

                                        -- Thomas Newton
                                           Thomas.Newton@cmu-cs-spice