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From: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: The Status of the Fetus and Its Rights
Message-ID: <287@cylixd.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 12:09:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: cylixd.287
Posted: Tue Sep 17 12:09:02 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Sep-85 04:52:23 EDT
References: <429@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA> <1546@pyuxd.UUCP>
Reply-To: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips)
Organization: RCA Cylix Communications , Memphis, TN
Lines: 28
Summary: 

>. . .   The extreme
>pro-life position of Matt Rosenblatt et. al. says that from the moment
>of conception the embryo deserves full legal status as a human being.
>A logical consequence of this position is that a woman who uses an
>I. U. D. or a morning after pill is guilty of premeditated murder.
>The penalty for premeditated murder is life imprisonment or death.
>O.K. YOU PRO-LIFERS, should I.U.D. users be sent to prison for life.
>. . . .  Could it be that killing an embryo is not
>as bad as killing a born human being??  If you can get yourself
>to come this far, you might realize that your moral absolutes
>are not so absolute as you thought.
>-- 
>Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL  ihnp4!ihlpg!tan

Speaking for one pro-lifer only, I would hold that "human life" in the
sense indicated by your questions cannot begin until after the zygote
has passed the point in development after which twinning, chimeras, and
similar developmental anomalies become impossible.  (I believe this 
coincides roughly with the time that the zygote should, if all goes 
well, implant in the uterine wall.)  Therefore, I have no problem with 
forms of "contraception" that work by preventing the implantation of the
zygote in the uterine wall.

I would guess there are other pro-lifers who share my view in this,
although the "majority view" among pro-lifers is, I believe, that human
life in the sense you mean begins at conception.
		
		charli