Dear Listers. I can't resist my two-bob's worth (yes a child of the predecimal era). I would personally resist fundamentalism in all things, that is, the extremist views on any topic, one way or the other. Fundamentalism is the cause of many of the world's woes. Extremist views on abortion do defy logic, but it is not merely an issue of logic. It is one of extreme complexity that involves emotions, moral standpoints, ethical considerations for the individual and her close associates, and the interests of society. It begs a general rule to protect the generally held value for life (and logic dictates that it is life, though of what kind is the subject of considerable debate), yet it is always the value of one life against the value of its impact upon another life. Therefore each circumstance requires its own merits in deliberating how it plays out. What I mean is, general values for life might be: Society values the life of unborn children, therefore it resists ending such lives. However, society also values the lives of women, perhaps more as already contributing members, and therefore seeks to support her ability to live a meaningful, prosperous and healthy existence. General Rule: Her life has primacy over the life of her unborn child.
If we hold that killing another human is ALWAYS wrong, no matter what 'quality' that human is, then we must logically refrain from killing all human life (again the thorny issues of reproductive technologies raise their head.... should we create a life knowing it will in likelihood be killed as in creation of embryos for transplant). Should the fetus live at his mother's expense? If we hold to a sort of sliding scale of value for human life that sees some life as more valuable, viable, important than others (eg judged against its potential to improve or impede the general good) then we might make judicious decisions about when and whose life to end. Logic then allows for termination of pregnancy, euthenasia, capital punishment, self-defence killing, and war. If we hold that the choice of the individual outweighs the opinions of others on issues such as sovereignty of the self over the body, any woman may make a choice to terminate a pregnancy, and a person may kill himself. If we hold women and others are not sovereign over their own bodies, but are a vessel of the product of the state or paterfamilias (the baby belongs to society so is not hers in any case, or may be the father's etc), then she must go to jail for smoking in pregnancy or be tried for murder if the baby dies in utero..... Imagine what might happen in cases of unexplained fetal death, just like what has happened with multiple SIDS in one family, the woman is always blamed. Perhaps the issue is debated on personhood. Is it wrong to kill a person? If so, when does the embryo become one? If based on traditional definitions of self-awareness, cognitive abilities and the ability for self-determination, then this allows for infanticide and involuntary euthenasia of the severely mentally impaired, but not for war or capital punishment. You can see that ethically the matter is not clear cut. Yes, abortion is killing, but so is war, so is self-defense slaying, and so is capital punishment. So is bombing Iraquis.................. In reality, most people don't make moral/ethical decisions based on if/then moral principles. They make them based on a thousand contingencies and interests, and I believe that since we can never know first hand what these are or how they are experienced by the individual we should never stand in judgment of her. The best we can/should do is know ourself, and if we can't serperate our own moral outrage from the actions of another, we should simply decline to take part. In termination of pregnancy we have this choice. But we should never make our opinions impact in a negative manner on her, she is going through enough. That's my stance.... um, well, stances, well, shifting positions. Oh, heck, until it happens to me I will never know. Trish -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
