Abortion / morality question for the thoughtful: What would you do with a headless body (see more)?

Question

Currently, some (wealthy) people are being cryogenicly frozen so they can be later thawed and cured of what ever ails them (be it disease or even old age).

Many believe that the best way to do this is to cut the head from the body just before death and freeze the head ONLY (this is done because a head can be frozen much more rapidly; and they figure that by the time medical science can cure their disease, they will be able to grow them a new body as well).

MY QUESTION is, if we had the ability to keep the decapitated BODY alive, would we morally obligated to do so?


FOLLOW UP QUESTION:
Are we obligated to protect the life of a embryo/fetus that has just as much/little capicity for thought as the headless body?

Answer 1

Those rich folks have a contract with human society. There is nothing moral or immoral about it. And since nobody has yet succeeded in thawing a frozen body, so far it's all just a wild gamble.
As to a fetus, we don't really know what their capacity for thought is. There is certainly evidence during the last trimester that they can indeed think. In any case, a life that needs only nutrients and proper shelter is hugely different than a dead body.

Answer 2

You can't compare the embryo to a head
People have aways been obligated to protect the fetus, why is it a question now? On the issue of abortion I'm somewhere in between the two extremes, the question you posed about the fetus dosn't seem to be valid, just because the embryo isn't fully developed doesn't mean that people should just stop protecting it, the human species would die out if people stopped protecting embryos, of course I know you didn't mean that, but that's what could be made from the question, I think people take it too far with the women's choice because in the future it will become something trivial, 'Oh I'll JUST get an abortion', that kind of takes away from how precious life is, but then there are exceptions, women who get raped, health issues, etc.

I watched that movie Children of Men, and it was a good movie, I just had to mention it because it was about infertility all over the planet and women couldn't have babies anymore, very interesting movie

Answer 3

I am not really sure. So, are you saying that when I cut someone's head off, I should freeze it? Should I also freeze the body instead of say burying it...ummm....in my back yard? I have never killed an unborn child directly but maybe indirectly. I think, if I were going to freeze someone's severed head, I would be capable of just about anything. But usually the cops take you away for stuff like that don't they, I mean if they find a bunch of frozen heads in your freezer.

Answer 4

Well, that's a new twist on the question.

I do think that by focusing on capacity for thought, you're raising a useful question, and one that currently isn't raised enough in discussions of abortion (where instead we get simplistic and often just plain false claims about various things being "human life" in a more essentialist way).

However, as a counterexample to where you're going with this, would you say then that a person in a coma, incapable of thought is therefore no longer due protection?

We really do have to start thinking about this if we want to resolve issues about abortion and the end of life.

Answer 5

No. The dead bodies are not our concern, though the bodies be treated with the respect due them. Especially that people not become indignant. I have presupposed that the individuals are dead at the time of "decapitation." Otherwise the act of decapitation itself is immoral. After one is put to death, then my answer still stand. The capacity of a body is that it will never regain its ability for conscious thought. Whereas, an embryo has the right to proper care that obtain maturity and die naturally, that is, without the intervention of man's determination as to it life being valid. I view your correlation as invalid, in that a dead or dying body is not the same at all, as an embryo. Do you propose that they are the same?

Answer 6

Science cannot creat life only God can do that. If someone wants to freeze their head, let them. But the life that is in an embryo is a gift from God, If life is present in the embryo then yes it should be protected. The fool that freezes his/her head before death is commiting suicide.
The church frown on any form of siucide, so I think that these delusional people will go to hell for trying to become immortal like God. God Himself tells us,
"Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984. Gen. 6:3

Answer 7

When you're bashing pro-choice, you aren't looking at the broad picture. That's called narrow-mindedness. All things are taken into consideration when a procedure is done. Just because a child is born doesn't mean life is going to be wonderful; especially with a person who doesn't want it. And adoption isn't the best solution. Kids grow up moving from foster homes to foster homes, and end up being abused in the majority of them. They grow up with no place in the world and end up losing their self identity. As a mother, I couldn't see or imagine a child of mine go through that. Every woman needs to be responsible for their actions, but if there a risk that a child will be going through a living hell ~ that woman should wait until she's ready.


wow... that was a lot - sorry.

Answer 8

This is kind of disgusting...

The embryo is most likely going to live and have a life.
The headless body has already lived its life out.

Answer 9

I think we have a moral duty to feed the hungry, and with so many decapitated bodies, it looks like soylent green is on the menu!

Answer 10

these people have faith in this life, after thier death, but still here on earth and the power of Man to re-vive

so if man uses technology to heal and revive, where is God?

LOL, lol

and my next question will hit just this...more to follow