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From: bird@gcc-bill.ARPA (Brian Wells)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Demarcation of life
Message-ID: <317@gcc-bill.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 16-Sep-85 14:26:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: gcc-bill.317
Posted: Mon Sep 16 14:26:43 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Sep-85 07:30:48 EDT
References: <306@gcc-bill.ARPA> <2378@ut-ngp.UTEXAS>
Reply-To: bird@gcc-bill.UUCP (Brian Wells)
Organization: General Computer Company, Cambridge Ma (Home of the HyperDrive)
Lines: 50

In article <2378@ut-ngp.UTEXAS> kjm@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Ken Montgomery) writes:
>[]
>
>From: bird@gcc-bill.ARPA (Brian Wells)
>>        I draw the line of demarcation at conception and I believe that it is
>>both a moral and logical place for that line to be.  The natural result of
>>conception is baby.  Even though it is just a clump of cells for a while, with
>>no recognizable human form, it will develop into a baby if left to its natural
>>course.
>
>Oh, really?  You (and other anti-choice people) have hit a new low
>in misrepresentation with the statement that:
>
>    it [the fetus] will develop into a baby if left to its natural course.
>
>Pregnancy involves the _continuous_ transfer of material between
>the bodies of the fetus and its mother.  Thus it is precisely _not_
>"leaving" the fetus to anything.  If the placenta fails to transfer
>the proper materials between the two bodies, the fetus will die.
>If the mother's body cannot supply the proper materials in the
>requisite quantities to the fetus, it will die.  The choice that a
>pregnant woman faces is to aid the fetus or to remove it from her
>body.  There is nothing whatsoever of _leaving_ it to "its natural
>course" involved in this decision, because its "natural course"
>_requires the overt aid of her body_.  It is pure misrepresentation
>to suggest otherwise.
>
>--
>The above viewpoints are mine.  They are unrelated to
>those of anyone else, including my cat and my employer.
>
>Ken Montgomery  "Shredder-of-hapless-smurfs"
>...!{ihnp4,allegra,seismo!ut-sally}!ut-ngp!kjm  [Usenet, when working]
>kjm@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU  [Internet, if the nameservers are up]


You are right, Ken.  There is overt support of the mother through all
those details.  I will not deny that.  And if any of these functions
fails, then the fetus will die.  But the woman doesn't throw any switches
or anything to make these functions go.  They automatically start when
conception occurs.  If she stays healthy, the NATURAL result is a baby.
All those functions of material transfer and supplying the needs through
the placenta are NATURAL functions that the woman's body will perform
if you just let it be.  Your desire to point out the details will not
change that.  I contend that it still follows: The natural result of 
conception is baby, and that is the way it should be.
							Brian Wells
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James 1:5
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