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From: liz@umcp-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: my mail box overfloweth
Message-ID: <6560@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Apr-84 02:00:13 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.6560
Posted: Mon Apr 16 02:00:13 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Apr-84 08:14:24 EST
References: <3705@utzoo.UUCP> <47700013@hpfcla.UUCP>
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 34

Quoting from Alan Silverstein:

	Is the fetus a human being?  I agree, a lot hinges on that.
	I'd say we should wait until the evidence is in, but I
	think it already is right there in plain sight.  The fetus
	is not human until it can live on its own.  If that means
	with the help of medical technology, fine.  Woman have the
	right to hand over the fetus to that technology, with no
	punishment if it does not survive, and no obligations to
	the fetus if it does.

What does living on its own have to do with the fetus being human???
Every year babies survive at smaller and smaller birth weights.
It's a very movable line.  Is a fetus carried by a woman in a rural
area away from modern medical facilities less human than one carried
by a woman in a large urban area simply because it has a worse
chance of survival if it were born prematurely.  That makes no
sense at all.  Also, even a normal baby can't really "live on its
own" -- it needs a lot of care.

In practice, abortion is frequently performed on women carrying
babies older than babies that have been born and have survived.
Babies who have survived a saline abortion have been known to live
for hours afterwards *without* any help.  (Saline abortions are
particularly bad for the woman since they usually feel the fetus
kicking and struggling inside of them for more than an hour until
the fetus dies.)  Viability is simply not a concern in the day to
day practice of abortion.

				-Liz Allen
-- 
Univ of Maryland, College Park MD	
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