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Social Values & Norms

Moral issues of abortion

From time to time our understanding of what is and isn't right
is difficult to ascertain. Take abortion, for instance. What is the
correct moral stance? Morals, ethics, how are they ascertained? We
typically do this through either religion or logic.

If we choose religion, we're left with some quagmires. If we do so,
then we often make the claim that the unborn are "God's children", and

it's wrong to kill "God's children", so abortion is wrong. This is fine,
except that it still requires logic to get to this point. The logical
statement being: Unborn children are "God's Children". "God's
Children" shall not be killed. Thus, unborn children shall not be killed.
The quagmire comes in when we discuss whether or not "God's children"
includes only living persons, or all persons, living and not-living.

Is a dead man God's child? He's dead, right? If he is God's child,
then surely so is the unborn child. But if "God's Children" on earth are
not limited to the living, and part of being human is the condition of
life, then we are left with a very illogical statement. One cannot be
God's child and not be human, can one? If so, then it follows that
birds can be "God's children", but many religious people would not
approve of such a statement.

There are two problems with this, though. The first is that "God's
children" is most notably considered to be only humans. The second is
that birds, and most other animals, commit abortion as part of nature.
Let's deal with the former first. Assuming "God's Children" includes
only humans, and a condition of being human, as described above, is a
requirement of life, then we have to prove the unborn child is alive
before we can call the unborn child a human.

From the moment of conception the ability for life to form exists.
There's only one question left: is it truly a life? Being a life requires
being alive. So, is the fetus alive? Of this, there is uncertainty,
and it is a question which does not seem to be destined to any
definitive answer anytime soon. So, we're left open-ended here, without any
sure conclusions. We are unable to successfully answer this question
from an objective view-point, though those on both sides of this argument
think they know the answer.

If "God's Children" includes the animals, then we can see abortion as
being natural. From time to time, perhaps even good. Birds break open
and destroy eggs when


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Moral issues of abortion

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Moral issues of abortion

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