Quote:
Originally Posted by suginami
I don't think there is anything non-sensical about the rabbi's position. One, for him, the answer is found in the Torah, IIRC, and the reasoning is that the mother's life is more important than the fetuses life as long as the fetus is in the womb.
Listen, I had this class about 20 - 21 years ago, so it is a distant memory, but that is the jist of the argument as far as I remember.
And for the record, I'm against abortion personally on moral grounds, but am in favor of it being legal, with restrictions.
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Paul, note how I encapsulated my argument, "... if one were to pursue consistency at the expense of common sense, ...".
What I mean by that is that many times people become very entrenched with respect to this argument. Of all the arguments that I have seen made, I believe that the Roman Catholic's is the most logically consistent because it removes any qualitative argument from the hand of man. Catholic teaching is adamant that all human beings are equally endowed with life by their Creator. That all life is therefore a gift of God and equally valid. This is far and away more consistent than the rabbi whom you quoted (accepting that you recall his argument accurately, for the sake of argument).
The rabbi argues that there is a qualitative difference between a baby in utero and a baby ex utero. Okay, lets follow that to the very last moment before dilation of the uterus is sufficient for life birth. In one moment the baby is less worthy than the next. Is a baby at 24 hrs post partum less valuable or less human then a baby at 25 hrs? How about a 5 year-old vs a 15 year-old? What I am arguing is that any distinction is based on the value system of the individual who is deciding for or against the life of the child. value is placed by an external, subjective evaluation, not by the subject (the baby).
If you could ask the zygote or microcephalic newborn or a 99 year-old with senile dementia, each would argue that his life is valuable and worth preserving. But since these people are mute or unable or unwilling to speak, we diminish their value and kill them at will. I'm okay with that probably to a greater degree than the rabbi. I would argue that my position is logically consistent with the rabbi's.