Yet another Abortion thread

[Ayatollah So]

In our society, you're allowed to harm a captor in order to free yourself, and this is where some of our abortion rights come from.

Say you're trapped in a small space with someone, rescue is months away, and (never mind how this can be but) you can only free yourself by killing the other person. Does it matter whether:
(1) That other person (with help from a third party, say) created your predicament.
(2) A third party, acting on his own, created the predicament, trapping both of you there.
(3) You yourself (with help from a third party) created the predicament?

 

[El_Machinae]

Yes, those all matter.

Remember, I said that the killing was wrong, but that it was understandable. In your three scenarios, there is a different moral burden and a different moral outrage if you kill your captor.

 

[Little Raven]

It's not only her body, if another human being is sharing it with her.

No, it's still her body. The fact that someone else depends on it for life does not negate her sole ownership of it.

To fall back on an old favorite: Assume you suffer from kidney failure, and I own the only dialysis machine in the area. You will literally die if I do not give you access to my machine on a regular basis. Does that mean that I am obligated to give you access? Or is the machine mine to do with as I please?

 

[IglooDame]

I wouldn't say 'execute' but simply 'disposing waste' that are rejected as worthless.

Wow. That's a pretty thwacky point of view.

 

[warpus]

No, it's still her body. The fact that someone else depends on it for life does not negate her sole ownership of it.

To fall back on an old favorite: Assume you suffer from kidney failure, and I own the only dialysis machine in the area. You will literally die if I do not give you access to my machine on a regular basis. Does that mean that I am obligated to give you access? Or is the machine mine to do with as I please?

She's a female, she knows that a part of her body (the womb) is there to house another human being if she engages in intercourse and certain things come to pass.

The fact that she's not used to sharing her body with another human being doesn't change the fact that as soon as the fetus is in her womb - they are both using the mother's body for the same purpose - survival.

She knows who she is (a female). You get pregant.. deal with it! You're sharing your body with another living being.

Sheesh

 

[Little Raven]

She's a female, she knows that a part of her body (the womb) is there to house another human being if she engages in intercourse and certain things come to pass.

That implies that our bodies are, in fact, NOT our own...that they belong to some 'higher purpose' (whatever that is) and that our control over them can be negated if we don't comply with that purpose.

Are you really comfortable going down that road?

 

[El_Machinae]

To fall back on an old favorite: Assume you suffer from kidney failure, and I own the only dialysis machine in the area. You will literally die if I do not give you access to my machine on a regular basis. Does that mean that I am obligated to give you access? Or is the machine mine to do with as I please?

Did you and a boyfriend get together and deliberately shoot me in the kidneys for fun? Or maybe you were playing with a pistol, and the safety came off and you (accidently) shot me in the kidneys?

In other words, the obligations change if you're the one to set up the scenario in the first place.

 

[Shadylookin]

It's not only her body, if another human being is sharing it with her.

if anything decided to attach itself to my body for survival I would be within my right to get rid of it. doesn't matter if this thing could become a human or not. Moral issues aside I believe we have free domain over our own bodies

Having said that, the later the abortion occurs, the more I am against it. I don't see anything wrong with aborting.. say.. 1 or 2 weeks after conception.

well given that a woman's cycle is ~28 days and she won't know for sure until her period is late it would be 3 or even 4 weeks before she is almost positive that she is pregnant

 

[Little Raven]

In other words, the obligations change if you're the one to set up the scenario in the first place.

Granted. But then, not all pregnancies are consensual, and the only real authority on that matter is the one making the decision on whether or not to withhold the machine.