Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site noscvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!amd!pesnta!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!noscvax!powers
From: powers@noscvax.UUCP (William J. Powers)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: \"Words mean what I pay them to mean . . .\"
Message-ID: <1031@noscvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Jul-85 11:34:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: noscvax.1031
Posted: Fri Jul 26 11:34:05 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 30-Jul-85 06:47:11 EDT
References: <3213@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 22

> 
> Abortion is murder or murder has no meaning.  It is the causing of the death
> of a human being for whatever reason not balanced against another life - not
> another quality of life!!
> 
> Ken Arndt

There is no doubt that abortion is the killing of something, but that
does not make it murder.  Murder is a term which only has meaning in a
given social-legal context.  We kill cattle by the millions, soldiers
and civilians during a war, theives, and other killers. 
None of these are defined as murder. (I'm sure you could think of
many other cases).  Murder in one country and time may not be defined
as such in another.  The line drawn between murder and killing (which
everyone of us does) is essentially arbitrary from an historical and
broad point of view; however, from a personal point of view it is
generally sharply drawn.  As societies and contexts change, the line
also changes.  As with most societal changes, this generally produces
generational gaps separating the old from the new.  Generally change
is only evidenced in the new; the old remain confused, angry, and
resentful.
Bill Powers