A forum for discussing matters of moment, from a curmudgeonly perspective. (The ideas posted here do not necessarily represent those of any organization with which I am a part). Rude and insulting remarks will not be published, but civil disagreement is welcome.
I think there is a problem with his first analogy. It's not the baby that is being yoked in something like slavery -- it's the mother who doesn't want to bear the child.
Slavery was wrong in 1860, and it still is. No one should be able to force a woman to bear a child she doesn't wish to bear.
Ed -- Your choice of words betrays the error of your argument. "...it's the 'mother' who doesn't want to bear the 'child.'" The mother of an unborn child is a mother. The child who is unborn is a child. The analogy of slavery and abortion works because each depends on reclassifying persons into nonpersons. If the "fetus" can be compared to a tonsil, then it can be removed and discarded. If the mother has within her a preborn human being, a real, live person bearing the image of God, she has no more right to end that life before the birth than she would have after the birth. You would never say of a baby's mom: "No one should be able to force a woman to feed a child she doesn't wish to feed." Better to say: "No woman should be forced to conceive a child she doesn't wish to bear." Once conceived, the baby must be treated as a human being rather than a piece of personal property.
So, Ed, by your reasoning no one should be able to force a woman to feed her children if she chooses to let them starve. Am I understanding you right here? Or do only children outside the womb have the right to exist?
I think there is a problem with his first analogy. It's not the baby that is being yoked in something like slavery -- it's the mother who doesn't want to bear the child.
ReplyDeleteSlavery was wrong in 1860, and it still is. No one should be able to force a woman to bear a child she doesn't wish to bear.
So, Ed, we should just kill the children instead?!
ReplyDeleteWhy should moral obligations always be chosen?
Ed -- Your choice of words betrays the error of your argument. "...it's the 'mother' who doesn't want to bear the 'child.'" The mother of an unborn child is a mother. The child who is unborn is a child. The analogy of slavery and abortion works because each depends on reclassifying persons into nonpersons. If the "fetus" can be compared to a tonsil, then it can be removed and discarded. If the mother has within her a preborn human being, a real, live person bearing the image of God, she has no more right to end that life before the birth than she would have after the birth. You would never say of a baby's mom: "No one should be able to force a woman to feed a child she doesn't wish to feed." Better to say: "No woman should be forced to conceive a child she doesn't wish to bear." Once conceived, the baby must be treated as a human being rather than a piece of personal property.
ReplyDeleteGary Starbuck
So, Ed, by your reasoning no one should be able to force a woman to feed her children if she chooses to let them starve. Am I understanding you right here? Or do only children outside the womb have the right to exist?
ReplyDelete