Subj : Ethical Questions
To   : MICHAEL GOTHREAU
From : MICHAEL DANEHY
Date : Fri Mar 09 2001 12:48 pm

-> SGID: 1:393/9005.35 6d3b9364
-> ========================================================================
->  Copied from POL_INC by Michael Gothreau (1:393/9005.35)
-> ========================================================================
-> Greetings All!
-> 
-> I received the following in an email.  I've cleaned it up to offer it
-> here.
-> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-> 
-> TWO ETHICAL QUESTIONS TO PONDER 
-> 
-> Q1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who already had 8 kids,
-> three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded,
-> and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?

 The answer is 'no' if you think that human life from the
moment of conception has intrinsic worth. Nobody would
want to kill a 20 year old mentally retarded person
and there would be no consistent reason for killing
a potentially retarded embryo _if_ it has the same
value. 

 However I don't think that an embyro has the same
worth as a 20 year old person. There is no 'mind',
no 'will', no feelings...thus no strong secular
case can be established for its worth. Nor
is there a strong case within the Christian
tradition. Historically, abortion was never
an issue for Christianity until, I think,
the 19th century. There is also no Biblical
prohibition of abortion. All Biblical based
arguments are verses taken out of context
that have nothing to do with abortion.

 As for other religions, I'm not sure,
and I'd invite anyone of Islamic or
Hindu persuasion to make their case.

-> By the way, if you answered yes to the abortion question,
-> you just killed Beethoven.
-> 
-> Interesting, isn't it?
-> 

 No, I killed a potential Beethoven. Just like
I would have killed potential Beethoven
if I had stopped Mrs. Beethoven from having
had sex that night. In fact, everytime a
man and woman decide not to have sex,
they may have prevented a future
Beethoven or Einstein from entering
the world. It must be our moral duty
to have as much procreative sex as
possible.


 
-> 
-> 
-> --------------------------------------
-> 
-> 
-> Michael Gothreau
-> 
-> 
-> ... "Careful, we don't want to learn from this." - Calvin
-> 
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-> 
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