[extropy-chat] Stem Cell Politics

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Olga Bourlin <fauxever at sprynet.com> wrote:
> From: "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey at yahoo.com>
> >>
> >> What if she wasn't responsible (as in pregnancy by force)?  What
> do
> >> you say then, Mike?
> >
> > Not being responsible is a definition of 'irresponsible'. The
> > proper word you are looking for is non-consensual. That being
> > the case, she can't be bound by a biological contract she did
> > not cognizantly consent to.
> 
> Ahaaaaaaaaaaa, so you say "OK" to abortion in some cases.  (Oh, oh
> ... what's that ahead there? ... Why it appears to be a slippery
> slope!)

One wonders how rape of a woman is a crime, but her aborting the
product of that crime in any way is more moral. Does killing the son
properly punish the father? Since when do moral relativists such as
yourself visit punishment on children for the sins of the parents? What
is that I see? A wholly different slippery slope.... ;)

> 
> Hmmm, and what if a mother's life may be in danger if she were to
> carry the embryo?

A woman who values her own life more than that of her child will be
worthless as a mother.

> 
> And what if an eleven year old girl *consents* to sex and gets
> pregnant as a result? (and the father is only twelve or thirteen
> himself)?

Many such couples have raised fine children.

> 
> And what if the result of an amniocentesis found that the fetus had
> no brain?  What would be the responsible thing to do?

Do you mean the child was conceived as a Democrat, or a post-modernist?
The first thing I'd do is get a second opinion. Then I'd start reading
it Ayn Rand in the womb. There is still a chance that nurture will
overcome nature....

> 
> In [a] case of sextuplets, would it be responsible to maybe to take
> out a some of embryos so that the other four? - or three? - or
> five? - had a better chance to be healthy and/or survive?

No. How are you going to decide which ones live or die?

> 
> And in any and all cases ... who's going to be the judge, anyway?



Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
Yahoo! Mail
Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour:
http://tour.mail.yahoo.com/mailtour.html