Err. You:
This is definitely a viewpoint, pretty explicitly. If you think that you’re being completely neutral or playing devil’s advocate, you’re either under a sad delusion or ur doin it wrong.
What the hell Vicelin? You completely misrepresented that quote to make it look like I was saying something I wasn’t. I really don’t appreciate that, and it’s kind of underhanded. Let’s look at the whole post:
“This argument only works if you feel the fetus isn’t a living human (and thus has no rights). However, if you think the fetus is a living human, then saying WOMEN SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE ignores the fundamental right to life the fetus has (trumps right to choose, sorry).”
I made it clear in the dependent clause that proceeded what you quoted that I was talking about someone who believed the fetus is a living human (and not talking about my personal views). I was trying to explain to the person I was responding to that the whole “WOMEN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE” idea assumes that a fetus isn’t a human worthy of rights. Since that depends on where you define human and prehuman, that has to be defined first before a woman’s right to choose can be brought into the discussion.
I’m glad you recognize that defining when a fetus becomes a human being is very difficult, and not black and white, but I hope you don’t honestly think the government not recognizing anyone/thing unborn as a human is significant in this discussion. You pointed out various issues with recognizing them. However, that makes it clear that that recognition is based on convenience, and has nothing to do with what really constitutes a human being.
Finally, I wasn’t using murder in a legal sense. I was using it a more general sense of killing another human individual (without their consent, but I think that doesn’t need to be said). No, killing an infant (I’m referring to anything that’s passed the threshold of humanity, so for you, that’d be anything with a developed nervous system and brain) isn’t murdering in the same sense as some guy running into a school and gunning down dozens of students and faculty, but don’t try to pretend it’s not taking the life of another human being. I know of no circumstances outside of another person trying to kill you that justify killing that person, and I certainly don’t think it’s a necessary evil. It’s an evil that’s not to be tolerated.