Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Using dudeguy:
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if so they should definitely be banned, in my view. as far as im concerned terminating a fertilised egg is equivalent to a murder. i dont think the right to life begins at birth. <b>just think that could have been you.</b>
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Is that the reason why people are aginst it? The prevention of human life? You could take that a step further and say that birth control pills are a form of murder because they are preventing "you" from being born. If this is all about stoping human creation, how does killing bunch of cells that can't feel anything(Not late term abortion) differ from stoping the creation earlier?
Your views?
Abortion is not the prevention of human life: it is the termination of human life. Any elementary biology or medical text will tell you that at the moment of conception, a distinct human life is created. The USSC acknowledged this in the Roe v Wade decision (the one that legalized abortion on demand), but claimed that the embryo/fetus was not protected under the rights and privileges guaranteed by the constitution, since it had not been ?born or naturalized? as a citizen of the US. Therefore, the woman?s ?right to privacy,? guaranteed by Amendment XIV, overrides the state?s ability to prohibit abortion.
Basically, since the embryo/fetus is a human being, but not a person (a person being a human being granted rights under the US Constitution, as provided for in Amendment XIV), the fetus has no rights and may therefore be terminated.
Here's a link to the Roe v Wade decision, in its entirety (extremely lengthy - try reading the syllabus if you're interested):
http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cg...ngs/words=4/hits_only?
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I thought I would clarify on the distinctions made between 'human' and 'person'. Definitions are from Merriam-Webster.com.
Human:
3 a : having human form or attributes b : susceptible to or representative of the sympathies and frailties of human nature
This term is taxonomic (purely biological) in nature, and is used to define a species. A human is therefore defined as such by simply having human DNA (and, therefore, human parents).
Person:
5 : the personality of a human being : SELF
6 : one (as a human being, a partnership, or a corporation) that is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties
This term is ontological, describing status granted by society above that given to a mere human. The US Supreme Court determined that Amendment XIV granted 'personhood' (or citizenship) only to those born or naturalized in the United States.