Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:04:03 -0500 From: "Averthan" <avert...@gmail.com>
Keeping aside the legal conundrum for the jurists to unravel, it is important that we consider the ethical and social implications of the claim that women have a right to arbitrarily terminate their pregnancies, and that, therefore, the State has a duty to provide them with all the facilities required for this purpose. Mario observes: Is there a legal conundrum in this case given the assurances of sovereignty in the treaties forming the EU? Averthan wrote: The vast majority of medical opinion holds that a human embryo or foetus is a distinct human person. This should be obvious to anyone with common sense. Mario observes: This obviously excludes the three Irish women, who have probably convinced themselves of the extreme feminist position that the foetus is an unviable tissue mass, even though we now know it already has the DNA of a human being. These women have taken this to another level. Even though they have the option of having an abortion in Britain, they are demanding that all the citizens of Ireland, regardless of their own closely held beliefs in favor of life, subsidize the desire of the few to abort their foetuses. Averthan wrote: Without getting involved in any technical debates, it is obvious that an unborn baby is a human person with rights and privileges like any other human person. Mario observes: I hope you are not oblivious to the fact that there are many men and women who do not think this is so obvious. Averthan wrote: The inexorable logic of permitting murder is that that society is doomed to become a society which condones, and even actively promotes, the murder of the elderly, who are considered to be a drag on society, of the physically disabled, the mentally challenged and the economically disprivileged. Mario responds: This is already happening in subtle ways especially in countries that have health care systems run by socialist bureaucrats. Averthan writes: The problem starts with the basic disrespect for human life. Humankind has not yet learned that all life is sacred, specially human life, which represents the pinnacle of evolution. Mario responds: There is a win-win option for women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy for whatever reason - the choice of adoption by the numerous couples who are unable to conceive. This option strangely gets lost in the shuffle in the emotional debate over abortion rights.
