I just viewed a phenomenal demonstration of ignorance in the form of an answer to another question on the topic. The answerer stated that abortion is the murder of the unborn.
*WHAT*
By definition one cannot murder that which is not living, hence the unborn cannot be murdered.
A larger question however- why is it that people consider first-term abortion evil, wrong or murder, when the fetus/emrbyo is not viable? (That is, it is not alive, and could not live outside of the mother.)
Nothing that was ever alive has been killed. Its a bizarre feat of semantics to say that one can murder what has never lived.
On a related note- can anyone provide any biblical references that "God" actually is against abortion? You would think that if it was THAT big of a deal he would have spelled it out somewhere. (And dont say "thou shalt not kill"- that is vague and ambigous at best, if God wanted to prevent it, he could have spelled it out.)
2006-10-01 15:13:53 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Biology 101.................just because a fetus cant survive outside the mother in the early stages doesnt mean its not living. Far from it. If it were dead, her body would reject it and the body would cause a miscarriage. The fetus from the time of conception is a living growing individual that needs its mother for nourishment, good care, and protection; not for the mother to decide she doesnt want to be a mother after the fact she got pregnant and have a doctor cut into her to kill the baby and discard it.
"If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. -Exodus 21:22-25
As you can see God clearly has determined that unborn children are human lives that deserve protection as well as justice from those who murder them. This is not a call to kill abortion doctors, but a warning to them and the mother who is murdering the baby.
2006-10-01 15:23:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
I suppose it does come down to argueing over semantics; what exactly does alive mean?
In textbooks it's defined as growing, feeding, getting rid of waste, and responding to input.
All living things do this in some way.
Babies do those things.
Babies are also considered alive, and by some to be full humans because they do respond to external stimulus. They also act of their own will (what mother will tell you she wants her baby to kick her constantly?)
Abortion, I believe, wasn't addressed because at the time babies were considered fully human from the moment the sperm left the male. Females were actually thought to just be the environment in which humans grow untill they were born, while the sperm was actually a tiny human. Abortion wasn't an issue since killing the baby was considered killing a human.
In the bible babies are referred to as sentient, but naive while in their mothers womb. That's as close as I can give you to an actual denial from the Bible specifically toward abortion.
edit: I found something:
"And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life." (Exodus 21:22-23)"
Life for life would be the life of the unborn for the life of the man born, making them equally alive in the view of the law.
The bible also often speaks of being formed in the womb by God, indicating that is indeed where personality and soul is formed, beginning life.
You asked for why people think this way and explain it, and I did, but I think you might have just wanted to try proving a point and not really wanted an answer...but we shall see.
2006-10-01 15:31:04 · answer #2 · answered by Startoshadows 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Having an abortion is a personal choice, and is one that is best done by the person/people involved directly in the situation. We can all sit on our thrones and say "don't do it; it's wrong" all we want to, but it doesn't change the facts of the situation for those involved.
I am for the mother to have the right to choose what happens to her body. No one ever said the "fetus" was a part of the woman's body. But I don't think it is anyone's right to force someone to remain pregnant when they don't choose to. Passing judgement is not the job of us mere mortals, so I think quite a few of us really need to get ourselves in check.
You are right: According to law, a "person" is a "person" at 24 weeks of pregnancy (or 6 months). An abortion can only legally be done on a pregnant woman that is 12 weeks pregnant or less (3 months), or during the first trimester. So by the legal definition, no one is murdering anyone.
But I also think the way to help reduce and prevent abortion is not to make it illegal, but to EDUCATE kids on sex and the ramifications of having it. Kids - even in this day and age of being bombarded with sexual stimuli - still think that you can't get pregnant if you do it standing up, or it's your first time, or from being in close proximity of spermazota (without it entering or being near the vaginal entry). That means that someone is dropping the ball on sex education. I think parents need to realize that education will not cause, but discourage sex amongst teens. And for God's sake, put your daughters on the pill - it is a heck of a lot cheaper than a baby!
Making abortions illegal will not stop them - it will only deregulate them. And you will have guys with dirty nails and coat hangers in back alleys doing them. And you will have mother's dying from them, causing more deaths. How is that "right"?
Banning something will not stop anything. Finding the root cause, and then taking care of that is the way. Unwanted pregnancies come from birth control being hard to obtain and/or a stigma to get. Make it easier. Teens are going to have sex - whether anyone likes it or not. Give them the tools to prevent them from getting pregnant, as well as making an informed decision. Educate them, and tell them how to get pregnant, and how to prevent it. Denying these things will not cause the abortion rates to go down. And unless the "bible thumping" crowd is going to go on dates with every single teen out there, you can't have everything. It's either abortion being legal, or birth control being easier to obtain and sex education in schools.
Why does everyone have to make this such a hard thing to discuss????
Addition:
To "HandofJustice21": The mother's body would destroy the fetus, if it weren't for the amnionic sac around the developing fetus. It shields the child from the mother's antibodies that would attack and destroy the developing fetus. So in essense, biology also justifies the fetus being "foreign matter" inside the mother's uterus. . .
And the bs about "partial birth" abortions - they account for 2 % of all abortions, and are ONLY done when the mother's and child's lives are in danger and the mother opts for it. Bringing it into the entire "abortion" debate is nothing by a PR move by Conservatives to get people on the fence to be enraged and to side with them. . .
2006-10-01 15:35:12 · answer #3 · answered by volleyballchick (cowards block) 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
God did spell it out. THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
He left it to sane people with a conscience(not you) to read between the lines. SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN.
An 'embryo' is a baby as soon as the first spark of life begins at fertilization. There is a soul present. Your ignorance and arrogance are astonishing.
Please save your questions for something you actually know about. How many children have you born?
2006-10-01 15:32:11 · answer #4 · answered by Diana 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Do you have a beating heart? Well so does a baby, so that makes it a living breathing human. I get so sick of hearing everyone calling a baby a "FETUS" Its not a fetus, its a human being. It is murder and it is sick. Any woman who has an abortion is a murderer and so is the doctor performing the abortion. I hope they can live with themselves. It is a selfish act and it is so sad!
2006-10-01 15:31:42 · answer #5 · answered by ? 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Abortion was not heard of when the bible was written. God didn't write the bible, man did.
So in your mind Scott Peterson should have only been convicted of killing is wife, because according to you, you can't murder an unborn. So the courts are wrong if they charge someone with a double murder if they kill the mother and the unborn baby. How is this different?
2006-10-01 15:19:31 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋
America #1 said it all and then some. I would like to see someone try to refute what they said. Abortion at ANY time is murdering a live being and is wrong. Late term abortions- Baby is partially born (the head only) stabbed in the skull, the brain is then sucked out until the skull collapses....libs support this? Yet some of those same liberals won't eat meat because it's cruel to the animals? Sound screwy to you?
2006-10-01 15:41:07 · answer #7 · answered by Cinner 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Nowhere does the Bible specifically prohibit or condemn abortion. Furthermore, the Bible connects life with breath. As a fetus does not breathe, therefore it is not truly alive, and so it is meaningless to talk of killing it.The position of the Biblical pro-choicers is that the Bible equates life with breath, and as a person does not begin breathing until they are born, therefore they are not a living person, or not a person in some "Bibical sense", until they are born.
They quote several Biblical passages where life is connected with breath, such as:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
-- Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
-- Job 33:4 (KJV)
Or in Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, when the bones come to life:
... and the breath came into them, and they lived ...
-- Ezekiel 37:10 (KJV)
While there are many places where the Bible speaks of life and breath together, I cannot find even one where it states that "life is breath" or any such thing. On the other hand, there are a few verses where the Bible does equate life with something else. Most of these are clearly intended to be symbolic or poetic, such as the numerous quotes in Proverbs that "wisdom is life" or Jesus' statements that "my words are life". Ignoring these, the only thing I can find explicitly equated with life in the Bible is ... blood. For example:
For the life of a creature is in the blood.
-- Leviticus 17:11 (NIV)
2006-10-01 15:23:08 · answer #8 · answered by rwl_is_taken 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Tell that to the courts, when a person kills a pregnant woman and then is charged with 2 counts of murder. At least the laws should cohere
2006-10-01 15:17:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Great job America #1
2006-10-01 15:31:19 · answer #10 · answered by Ted Kennedy aka Swimmer 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋