Abortion Debate: 1 of 7 - Alan's Opening Argument

"Should Abortion Be Illegal?" debate at California State University San Marcos on April 20, 2010. Alan Shlemon and Professor Cecili Chadwick.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• abortion
• debate
• alan
• opening

[PreachReality]

This is one of the best presentations of the Pro Life view I have seen. Very well structured, holistic arguments. Great job.

[prochoicecliniescort]

@TherionNLD try googling - granthamcollection



[TherionNLD]

@tbeld Yeah, I've heard of the parasite argument and I think it's a silly argument, perhaps it has some merit in cases of rape though. I've also heard pro-lifers compare legal abortion to the holocaust which to me shows how strange a consistent pro-life position is.

[tbeld]

@TherionNLD I don't know exactly how you define conscious, but infants aren't really self-aware the first few months after birth.

[tbeld]

@TherionNLD If you had two 30 year old twins in comas where one was born that way and the other recently became that way, despite the fact they are indistinguishable only one would be a person? It seems strange to define something by what it was instead of what it is.

[tbeld]

@TherionNLD In the past it was incorrectly argued that blacks were human but not 100% equal to white people. That black people didn't pass the "looks like a person" test.

[tbeld]

@TherionNLD I would choose number 2 because i would save an active 2 year old over a frozen 2 year old. If the choice was one adult in a coma and one alert child, i would save the alert child.

Also, the embryos have a low survivability. People would be less likely to save a terminally ill child but that doesn't mean that the terminally ill are less of a person.

I have herd it argued that a fetus is a parasite. What about?

1. Pregnant woman

2. Woman with tubeworm

[me25422]

@TherionNLD you are also assuming when consciousness start

[me25422]

@TherionNLD okay if the mother is going to die than okay kill the fetus but if not then the scenario is no the same

[me25422]

@TherionNLD so your point is that its ok to kill an innocent human but not an innocent person. still sounds like semantics to me but whatever, im done.

[TherionNLD]

@me25422 You don't think a baby is conscious? I know babies don't remember being a baby but they're certainly conscious, they cry! Read my definition of being a person again: "A living human being that has been conscious, self-aware." I put the words "has been" in there otherwise you could argue that going to sleep or fainting meant you stop a person, which would be ridiculous of course.

So the way I see it is: Personhood starts when consciousness starts, and it ends when you die.