Thread: I am an abortion consequentialist, and if you're smart, you are too

Originally Posted by RPA1

That is disingenuous. A fertilized egg is already starting its development into a human being. A single sperm or single egg is not and will NEVER develop into a human being by themselves.

The zygote will never "develop" into a human being.

It is true that the zygote offspring of the offspring many times over will start spitting out "differentiated cells".

It is these differentiated cells that form the various parts of the human.

Originally Posted by ualsdu

I'll assume you did not see my original post. So I just copied and pasted what I said before.:

FACT 1: A human egg cell once fertilized is, barring acts of God, destined to increment human population count by at least one. This is inevitable, irrefutable, and indisputable.

FACT 2: Abortion abruptly terminates the process, thereby resulting in decrementing the human population by at least one.

FACT - Something that is destined to happen has not yet happened.

The incremental addition to the human population has not yet happened.

The human you are speaking of does not yet exist.

Originally Posted by ualsdu

Please go back to my original post and read it carefully. I really do not relish having to repeat myself.

Perhaps YOU should go back and reread what you wrote.

I agree, they should be forced to go to prison and tried for murder if they abort the child.

How do you think you can catch women in the act of abortion? Anti-abortion laws are impossible to enforce, it's been tried before.

I can drive around as carefully as I can, but if I accidentally hit a person and kill him, am I not subject to legal judgement for manslaughter?

Perhaps, but there will be no judgement against you unless you were negligent.

Yes, there are still too many people who have a warped sense of fairness and justice. There are still too many people who think it a gross miscarriage of justice to have a woman carry a child till birth, but are fine with killing the baby instead. To these people, let a woman practice unlimited promiscuity, and to hell with the consequences of their uncontrollable libido. You're right, this world has too many people, how nice if those who think inhumanely would simply go away.

And there are far too many people who think an unwanted pregnancy can ONLY be the result of unlimited promiscuity and/or uncontrollable libidos. Far too many people who know little about women, but are too eager to judge them.

Originally Posted by Giftedone

The zygote will never "develop" into a human being.

A zygote is an early stage in the development of a human being. If it ceases to be alive before it advances to the next stage, no human will result from that zygote.

It is true that the zygote offspring of the offspring many times over will start spitting out "differentiated cells".

It is these differentiated cells that form the various parts of the human.

Yes...like I said a zygote will develop into a human being, you are splitting hairs.

Originally Posted by Blasphemer

Yes, inaction would result in no human person in the future in case of gametes, and action would result in no human person in the future in case of embryos. But opposite choices would result in continuation of the potentials.

We are talking about the potential of gametes and embryos, not potential of action/inaction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omission_bias

Without the sperm piercing the egg (action) there will be no human being created 100% of the time. Seriously, you can't comprehend that?

Originally Posted by Giftedone

The zygote will never "develop" into a human being.

It is true that the zygote offspring of the offspring many times over will start spitting out "differentiated cells".

It is these differentiated cells that form the various parts of the human.

Human beings completely regenerate every 7 years or so. This means that ALL your cells are NOT the cells you had in the past they are reconstructed and different. Does this mean that 7 years ago you were not alive or somehwo not human?

Originally Posted by RPA1

A zygote is an early stage in the development of a human being. If it ceases to be alive before it advances to the next stage, no human will result from that zygote.



Yes...like I said a zygote will develop into a human being, you are splitting hairs.

Not like a child develops into a man. The term develop is obfuscative.

The zygote sets a process in motion that will result in the eventual creation of a human.

If the right usage of "develop" is clarified your claim that the zygote will develop into a human being can not be said to be wrong.

Fair enough.

When you claim "development of a human being" is where things go wrong.

It is the stage in the development of a zygote that, far down the road will result in a human being.

It can not be "development of a human being" because a human being does not exist yet.

Originally Posted by Giftedone

Not like a child develops into a man. The term develop is obfuscative.

The zygote sets a process in motion that will result in the eventual creation of a human.

If the right usage of "develop" is clarified your claim that the zygote will develop into a human being can not be said to be wrong.

Fair enough.

When you claim "development of a human being" is where things go wrong.

It is the stage in the development of a zygote that, far down the road will result in a human being.

It can not be "development of a human being" because a human being does not exist yet.

I suppose you can twist it whichever way you want, the TRUTH is that if you kill a zygote you terminate a life process that will eventually develop into a human being. Pro-aborters don't want to face this fact.

Originally Posted by RPA1

Human beings completely regenerate every 7 years or so. This means that ALL your cells are NOT the cells you had in the past they are reconstructed and different. Does this mean that 7 years ago you were not alive or somehwo not human?

Very good point. Notice that none of these individual cells is "a human". Each cell is alive and each cell is human but none is a living human. A human is the sum total of its parts. Each of these parts are composed of cells.

A zygote does not have any of these parts .. it is the equivalent of one cell.

Originally Posted by RPA1

I suppose you can twist it whichever way you want, the TRUTH is that if you kill a zygote you terminate a life process that will eventually develop into a human being. Pro-aborters don't want to face this fact.

It might eventually develop into a human, or even two humans. Then again it may not. The fact that the potential exists can not be denied.
The fact that most anti-aborts can not seem to get is that it is not a human now and only has the potential to become a human.

The truth is that every sperm and egg have the potential to become human. Every human cell also has this potential.

Humans have developed the ability to control their own reproductive capacity.

I think the question you are really asking is " should humans exercise this control or just let nature take its course" , and to be honest I think it is a valid question.