RR Phantom
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 |  Subject: Recently departed Fred Bartlett on Abortion  Thu Oct 08, 2015 4:01 am | |
| 1] Abortion is not contraception. Conception has already occurred if abortion is being considered.
2] Failure to practice contraception is failure, period, and failure should never be subsidized, certainly not by wiping out of existence another human being.
3] The rationalization of 'potential' human being requires the acceptance of a temporal bias, which is fundamentally no different, in this universe, as it is, to a spatial bias. The only thing which needs to be done to realize the potential of a developing fetus is nothing but the passage of time. A fetus makes no 'demands,' neither does it make any requests. A fetus is just responding to a physical, if not intentional, invitation to life by others. The failure to competently practice contraception when the intention of the physical act is other than procreation is not the responsibility of the fetus.
4] A comatose mother could yet feed a fetus. A comatose mother could not feed an infant. An infant is yet more 'dependent' on the actions of the mother than a fetus. "Dependency on others' is not an argument to allow the termination of infants.
5] Our individual DNA process is a continuous process, unfurling from the moment of conception. There is no later stage of our existence that is not dependent on earlier stages of our existence, as a continuous entity in space and time. Our DNA process is continuous in both space and time from the moment of our conception, to the moment of our death.
6] Acceptance, rationalization of the termination of an already unfurling DNA process, once invited to unfurl, requires the irrational acceptance of a temporal bias. In the continuum of space/time, that continuously unfurling DNA process is not a complete individual human 'yet.' That is because we are not regarding that human over the complete time-space continuum that it exists in. But, the only thing required to see the complete individual human is the passage of time.
7] That situation in time is entirely analogous to the situation in space; if we look at a human below the knees, he is not a 'complete individual human being' yet, in space. That is because we are regarding only a subset of the space time continuum that a human exists in. We would never use that spatial bias as an excuse to cut someone off below the knees, for example, to get a better view of the sunset at the beach, or whatever other reason that others would find convenient for that purpose. That would be an immediately recognized unacceptable absurdity. And yet, in the spatial bias example, only the human below the knees is obliterated, whereas in the much more often accepted temporal bias, it is the entire existence in all of space of time to follow which is being obliterated.
8] Neither would we accept, as a rational reason, "It is ok if you take that person far away from me in space, and arbitrarily murder them/terminate their existence; just don't do it right in front of me." That would be absurd. And yet, that is exactly what we do when we accept a temporal bias. "As long as the existence of that unfurling DNA process is terminated far from NOW, that is acceptable. So, far away in its past -- right after conception -- or far away in its future -- the moment before natural death, as an act of mercy.
We are of course much more than our unfurling DNA processes, but whatever we are, the basis of our life, cannot exist without the unmolested possession of that unfurling DNA process.
9] The fetus is a concrete example of a new individual DNA process, unfurling. There is and has been a conflict to define the most fundamental aspect of an individual -- the term of its existence. The resolution of this conflict -- between the newest individual and others -- is resolved by others, based on whatever philosophical or moral guidance they bring to the conflict. The rationalizations in support of abortion boil down to the convenience of the others, based mostly on a shaky temporal bias that is permitted to stand, unquestioned.
10] The falseness of the temporal bias can be easily proven. Run the following thought experiment. In instances where deliberate abortion is being considered, several things have already occurred:
10a] A male and female have invited conception via a specific act, no matter what their intent. If competent application of contraception has failed, then that is a personal failure on their part. (This is another philosophical argument; abortion represents a payment by future competents -- with their entire lives -- for the failures of incompetents.) No fetus ever asked or demanded or requested an invitation.
10b] Natural abortion has not occurred. A fetus exists, as a consequence of a unique individual unfurling DNA sequence.
Under those circumstances, imagine two billion such instances. Take that group and divide it in half. With one billion instances, deliberately abort the feti. With the control group, do nothing. In a year, revisit the control group, observe what has appeared. The evidence will show that the only impediment to 'potential' was the deliberate act of abortion, and the only conclusion possible is that the non-appearance in space-time of what every thinking person would regard as an individual was prevented overwhelmingly by a deliberate act of abortion.
http://www.solopassion.com/node/6360#comment-73945
http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/GeneralForum/2050.shtml |
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