Life Begins When?

[liveonearth]

This morning I awakened to a story on the radio about the "Personhood" initiative. Some well-meaning folks are seeking to have states pass laws saying that "life begins at conception" and to ban all abortion and all uses of human cells. I appreciate their purism and their willingness to take this value to its logical end. At least these "lifers" are not hypocrites! But unfortunately for them, their initiatives are falling like flies under a flyswatter. Why? People are unwilling to force women to have babies they don't want. It is problematic. If you MUST give birth to any conceptus that sticks, do you still then have to mother it? Or can you ignore and abuse it? Well it turns out, you CAN ignore and abuse it. If the government notices how bad you treat your kids, it takes them away and they get treated even worse. These people who wish that every conceptus become a child are neglecting to consider the logical outcome of their actions. MORE unwanted children helps create a desperately sick society that doesn't respect life at any age.

But back to the question of when life begins. Life "began" when a bunch of chemical components somehow found themselves able to do something that they couldn't do separately. And somehow they became able to spread, expand, and later to reproduce. Since then life has been continuous. We are an extension of the life that began in the slime. Tentacles of life reach out all the time, in every direction. We are host to more living cells that are NOT us than to cells that ARE us. Life is a network, a collage, a confusing interconnected amazing self-promoting thing. Cells die but life goes on. Skin cells. Stomach cells. Sperm cells. Egg cells. The idea that a sperm cell + an egg cell is somehow sacred because it is more alive than any other cells is exaggerated. The web of life goes on. The boundaries of death remain.

Comments

[hausfrauatu.livejournal.com]

As a woman that has carried three kids to term and mothered each one of them, I'll tell you why adoption isn't usually an option.

Nature provides mechanisms to bond mothers to their infants even before they are born. I am as pro-life as they come, but after investing that much time and energy into growing an infant, and then birthing the infant and then...gosh. They are awfully cute! It's not natural to want to give up a baby.

I wonder if the sort of women who would make the rational choice to give up a child would be less likely to get knocked up in the first place.

Before Roe v. Wade a lot of women were compelled to give their babies away. If people say that abortion is traumatic, what about giving up a full term infant?

Another thing. Just because a woman can care for an infant, doesn't mean she will be an effective in the long term. I think there are a lot of toddlers in foster care. It's like the animal shelters being full of 1 1/2 year old dogs. Everyone loves a cute wriggly little puppy, but when the reality of actually training them sets in and then doesn't happen, they aren't wanted.

My first ethical standard is to minimize suffering. Abortion minimizes suffering.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Yes! Thanks for weighing in.