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Very few in the modern world call male masturbation an act of genocide, in spite of the death of millions of sperm cells.
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Who is making the claim that a million sperm cells are human? They don't feel pain. They will never develop a consciousness. That is not true of a fetus.
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Some people argue that at conception, there is a dramatic change and the clump of cells deserves moral rights beyond those of reproductive cells. At the other extreme are those who argue that the moral status of the unborn changes at birth and no earlier, since prior to birth the fetus lives a parasitic existence within the mother's body and is aware of nothing beyond the womb.
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Technically speaking, it isn't parasitic, since the fetus performs a function; it allows the mother to reproduce her genes. The relationship is therefore symbiotic, not parasitic.
I am unwilling to take your word for it that the fetus is unaware of anything while in the womb.
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I am in that third camp. I don't feel that a 'soul' (and therefore personhood) can predate consciousness and I don't believe a soul is set out for every child at conception. On a metaphysical level, I don't feel that there's anything for the soul to 'attach' to prior to consciousness
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On what do you base that assumption? How do you know
anyone has a soul at all?
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That's a great point. I think the difference is this: While the woman is still pregnant, the fetus is a sort of possession. I think that because it cannot live without her, she sort of can choose to stop keeping it alive.
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Does that argument work for conjoined twins as well? Which one "owns" the other?
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I know that these reasons are a little sketchy. I think that these are just the justifications, if you like, for what goes on. The bottom line is that this is a hard choice:
-Does the government have the right to prevent a woman from getting an abortion?
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Yes. Because the child has human rights, including the right not to be killed for no reason.
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-Is abortion the same as murdering a post-birth child?
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Yes.