LENNY
Abortion is not nearly as complex an issue as many make it out to be. The
vast majority of abortions are preformed for mere convenience. The only
time I can see that a live abortion (extracting a dead fetus is abortion
also) would be justified is if the mother would die without the
procedure. An example might be a tubal pregnancy. If the abortion is
not performed both the mother and the baby would die. So your motivation
is to save the life of the mother, if you don't both mother and child
will die. In the case of a later term health problem everything within
reason should be done to keep the child alive.
Paul Robson:
Well, there's no justification for "Vast majority ... mere convenience."
I'm obviously a bit dim. This is what I call "situational ethics". The ethic
"abortion is wrong" is not an "absolute" but depends on the individual
situation.
You can't make rules for this sort of thing. There are few cases where
both will *definitely* die. What about the cases where there is a very
high probability of both dying ? One and not the other ? What if the child
will die in the first week of life ? You make a judgement.... isn't this
what
you are doing ?
Paul Robson (autismuk@aol.com)