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From: jc@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Human rights for ova! - (nf)
Message-ID: <1296@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 21-Apr-84 00:09:41 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.1296
Posted: Sat Apr 21 00:09:41 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 22-Apr-84 08:32:53 EST
Lines: 40

#N:inmet:22500001:000:1813
inmet!jc    Apr 19 14:51:00 1984

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Hey, why are you people all restricting yourself to aborting fetuses?
What about the poor unfertilized ovum?  Isn't it human?  Doesn't it
have rights?

First, it is obvious that an ovum is alive.  Presumably there's no 
question here.  If there is, you've got a real problem!

Second, it is human.  At least, if it came out of a human ovary, it is.
You don't believe this?  OK, then, what species is it?  A frog, perhaps?
Or maybe a begonia?  No, it's clearly human.  All 23 chromosomes plus 
surrounding cytoplasm, mitochondria, and assorted membranes are human.

Since an ovum is a living, human creature, clearly it is our moral duty
to protect its life.  This obviously means fertilizing it; it'll die if 
we don't.

Now, I'm not claiming that a woman who ovulates and fails (or even worse,
refuses) to have it fertilized is guilty of murder.  I believe the term
is "negligent homicide" or "criminal negligence" or something like that.
Similar to if you get out of your car with the engine running, it slips
into gear, and it runs down a child.  Not that you intentionally killed
someone; you just took actions that incidentally led to a death which
you could have prevented.  

Surely our moral guardians have thought this one over by now, but somehow
I've missed their explanations.  How about somebody enlightening me?

At the same time, we should consider sperm, which are clearly also living,
human creatures.  Unfortunately, there's about a billion of them for each
ovum.  I don't see how any responsible creator could have set it up this
way, so that 99.9999999% of all humans are doomed to death at the sperm
stage of their development.  Perhaps a theology student can explain this 
one to me?

                                      John M Chambers [inmet!jc]