If a fetus doesn't become a human until it is able to live on its own...?

Question

...does a person on life-support stop being human?

I mean any life support. If I'm in the hospital and they put a tube down my throat for any reason, that's life-support.

Answer 1

further to your question, what does "live on it's own" mean.... for that matter, what does "viable human" mean....?
If you placed a 6 month old baby naked on the street in the dead of winter, would it live? Is a 6 year old able to live on his or her own? Many adults still come home to mom and dad cause they are unable to live on their own..... should they be aborted?

A human is a human from conception, regardless of his or her health. They deserve dignity, our support and respect until he or she passes away. A person does not stop being a person if they are on life support.

Answer 2

this is a tricky question.

I think the minute the fetus is created, the first cell division of the egg, creates a human DNA, making that fetus human. (or a human fetus)

when a person is on life support, that human is in fact a human, just a human that cannot line under it's own will. that person does not turn into a dog or a cat or a pile of mush, it's still human

when a person dies, it's a dead human, like a dead fly or a dead racoon.

as for the moral delima of life support, if you brain can no longer tell your body how to beat the heart or to control bodily functions, and it's permanent, then that's life support.

if you get in a car crash, break a few ribs and have to be fed through a tube, your in intensive care, your brain still knows how to work your body, making you able to live at your own will, this isn't permanent.

Answer 3

if frogs had wings was the hypothetical then bovine fecal matter would suffice for the paradigm of society as is the case when the senile dementia mentality of the supreme court is the standard and final word . some one retire the old and incompetent and give rise to some truth and functional mentality.
Judge Black the man that took the credit for legalizing murder was just an inch from death at the time let's get real.
the major difference in your parallel is that the fetus has a life ahead and the vegetable doesn't .I'll advocate the rights of euthanasia over murdering helpless fetuses in their innocence any day of the week.
Even if put up for adoption who are we to try and predict the future even if we don't help that much the fetus in question might grow up to be a president that saves your child's life rather than the rich son of a bush that kills off your family in a war .

Answer 4

Oh, the ignorance...
A "tube down your throat" isn't life-support. Sometimes it's done to let the patient breathe more easily, so the body doesn't struggle and can heal...but the body *can* breathe on its own. Same goes for most patients on oxygen -- they could live without it, but they do better with it.

Personally, I would define someone as not being human if there is no brain activity. Such people as adults usually (but not always) have to be on full life support. And -- isn't it amazing? -- a fetus that can't survive outside the womb also has no autonomous brain functions. Isn't that wonderful symmetry?

In the end, the decision about what to do with an adult with no brain activity or a fetus with no brain activity is up to the responsible party -- for a fetus, that's the woman in whose body it grows. For an adult, it's usually a spouse or relative. It's their choice, not yours or mine. That's also the law...so stop worrying about other people, and worry about yourself :)

Answer 5

That seems like a profound comparison except for two things:

1) we generally do not allow 3rd trimester abortions when the fetus is capable of survival, and

2) a person on life-support does impinge on the right of another human to control their own body.

Answer 6

Depends on whether an MRI/EEG/etc reveals lots of brain activity. If the person is brain dead, I would say yes.

Although more to the point, if the life support system depends on someone else's life -- mine or a woman's -- we shouldn't be involuntarily marshaled for that purpose. Late-trimester abortions where there is a flicker of brain activity in the fetus are pretty much always to preserve the life/health of the woman.

If a brain dead person was dying of heart disease, and you killed me, harvested my organs, and gave them to the brain dead person, it would be a legitimate comparison.

Answer 7

you are human before you are able to live on your own when a woman is pregnant it is a living being in her abortion would be wrong. so a person on life suport is a liveing being and it is still human.

Answer 8

Technically human is the name for the species so yes no matter what you will be human. What your looking for is alive or something akin to that. Yes they are human, are they still alive or there however is another question.

Answer 9

A fetus is a human baby if and it does have, a soul, and a spirit.

Answer 10

We are very contradictory in applying law here. Fact is, brain waves are the standard for deciding whether the person is alive anymore. A fetus has brain waves at three weeks. To be consistent, any abortion after three weeks is cold-blooded murder. Go figure.