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From: yali@utai.UUCP (Yawar Ali)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: They finally said it!
Message-ID: <279@utai.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Nov-84 18:27:45 EST
Article-I.D.: utai.279
Posted: Tue Nov  6 18:27:45 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Nov-84 20:43:31 EST
References: <1118@ihuxm.UUCP> <28000019@uiucdcsb.UUCP>
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 42

> That is a good question.  At what point does a fetus become a child?
> As I can see no definite "transition point" I have to say that point is
> at conception.
> 
> 				Brad Andrews

So, the claim is that at the moment of conception the zygote 
"becomes a child". Presumably, by this Mr. Andrews means that 
the fertilized egg should be regarded as a Person, in the legal
sense of the term. This suggestion is open to numerous objections.
Firstly, the "transition point", as he calls it, is by no means
very definite in the case of fertilization. At what point is one
to conclude that an egg has been successfully fertilized, and 
at what point can one definitely conclude that an egg is "safe"
from the attack of those nasty spermatozoa that may have been 
unleashed upon it at some time in the past? 
Secondly, if at some point it becomes possible to determine that
a particular egg *has* indeed been  fertilized, the viability of
the  zygote with regard to its  future development and continued
survival is by no means assured.
Given all these uncertainties, it seems  rather  silly to insist
that the newly-formed union of two reproductive  cells be granted
personhood, in the same sense that its parents are Persons.
On the one hand, we deny this status to most animal species, other
than our own, yet Mr. Andrews would want to confer it upon the
zygote, merely because it has the potential to eventually develop
into a human being, assuming that all goes well, of course. But,
if we are to be such reductionists,  why stop at zygotes? It is
but one short step further along this line of argument to grant
personhood to free (non-united) gametes. The mind boggles!
Surely, a more sensible approach is to try to form some "reasonable"
criteria as to when a  fetus is likely to be able to survive outside
the womb, and use this as a basis  for developing policies on  abortion,
legal matters,  and the like. Remember,  the (possibly!) mother-to-be
has rights too!

						Yawar Ali
						Dept. of Computer Science
						Univ. of Toronto
		{ allegra cornell decvax ihnp4 linus utzoo }!utcsrgv!utai!yali

>>>>> What is the transition point where my body ends and yours begins??? <<<<<