Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site iddic.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!orca!iddic!galenr From: galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield) Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: Re: \"Words mean what I pay them to mean . . .\" Message-ID: <2119@iddic.UUCP> Date: Wed, 14-Aug-85 15:31:54 EDT Article-I.D.: iddic.2119 Posted: Wed Aug 14 15:31:54 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 03:58:19 EDT References: <410@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA> <1089@homxa.UUCP> Reply-To: galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield) Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR Lines: 34 Summary: In article <1089@homxa.UUCP> wine@homxa.UUCP (J.GORDON) writes: >There seems to be a debate going on about the meaning of the word >'alive.' Thomas Newton seems to think the term is well defined. >Well, Thomas, is a cancer cell alive? Is a kidney alive -- can I >choose to transplant my kidney, or do I have to ask it's permission? >Personally I think that a fetus qualifies as alive, as does a cancer >cell, but I think that the carrier of either has the right to remove >it. The concept of 'alive' is not so well defined as some think! > > Jim Gordon, Jr. (JR, not SR as has sometimes been reported) I'm not the person to whom you addressed the (rhetorical?) question, but: Yes, cancer cells are alive; if they were dead they would not cause tumors. Do you know of any non-living substance that can generate faulty copies of itself (other than software)?? The kidney transplant analogy is right on!! Pregnant women who wish to have their fetus removed should find another woman whose life is threatened due to lack of a healthy fetus, so that a transplant can be performed. All you've illustrated is that anyone (man or woman) may, in certain cases, have a normally functioning part of their body removed. Transplants are not the only instance; there is also cosmetic surgery. Fact is, each situation has its own unique considerations. If the abortion issue lended itself easily to the use of examples to prove arguments, we'd be done already. Warm regards, Galen