That's fair enough to say, I admit. And a good point. But you're arguing that just because it can't survive outside the mother, that it isn't alive anywhere. It's a stupid thing for me to argue back; stupid as in simple. But that doesn't make it untrue: if an organism of any size or composition is alive, it is a form of life. No matter where it lives. And I apply this same theory, without judgment, to every case in which there is life. Which we kill constantly: from squashing bugs to bacteria we can't see to killing plants for food. You really believe that because I use the word murder, I also judge it as being wrong. But it's killing something living. That's all I'm saying. And it's true. In the case of a fetus, it's the mother's job to decide whether it's right or wrong. I haven't lost my grip on anything. I think you're just reading me wrong a little bit. I know my view isn't shared by most people, be they pro or anti-choice. But I think I've got it right. No matter how simplistic it is.Goliath wrote:How is it 'a life' when it can't survive on its own outside of the uterus? 'Murder' is taking away, by force, another human being's life. That's so far removed from the practice of abortion that you really can't label them the same without coming off really detached from reality.
Well, whatever you do, G: don't think for a minute that I trust the legal system in the United States. Just because I believe in capitol punishment doesn't mean I believe it's performed justly. Again- it's not a moral issue with me. Or a way for me to feel superior or safe somehow, that all the "scum of the Earth" is being taken care of, etc.Goliath wrote:I think it's incredible that people still support capital punishment after the array of cases we've seen lately in which people were released from death row after decades when it turned out they were wrongly convicted. And just a month ago, a guy in Texas was executed who very likely was innocent as well. To knowingly and willingly take the chance that you execute an innocent human being is morally reprehensible, to me.Lazario wrote:And we've talked before, I pretty much support all legal forms of taking a life - euthenasia (of people and animals), capitol punishment (mainly because I'm very cynical when it comes to rehabilitation), come up with another one.
I hate to say it - though I have to say it because I want to distance myself from that The Amazing Atheist way of coming off like I don't care about people's feelings - but I'm really not sure I agree with that kind of thing. It seems like it would vary. For example: if a person assaults a pregnant woman intentionally either because he/she wants to do harm to the baby inside her or because they're targeting her for her vulnerability, that is a crime against the pregnancy itself. That should be punished accordingly- according to the fact that in these cases, the attacker knows the woman is pregnant and takes the risk of killing the child. However, if the criminal has no idea the woman is pregnant or there are no obvious signs that she is pregnant, it's wrong to try the criminal for killing the baby. Flat-out wrong. And something that is only happening because of SOME of the U.S.'s rabid pro-life views. To make up in some small way for the mother's (and potentially the father's) emotional devastation. But, that's not the job of this law. It's to incarcerate or/and put to death killers who know they're killers or can't be stopped from killing.littlefuzzy wrote:Judges HAVE ruled that if someone causes assaults a pregnant woman and causes her to miscarry, they can be tried for murder, even if it is only 7-8 weeks old.
The criminal's life is actually not connected to the child's, that's forced ... how do I say it: biblical tie-in sorta thing. See what I'm saying? It's hard for people to understand but the act of one person killing another is not 2 lives tied together. Capitol punishment and its' justified use in my eyes (which is: only when the murder is malicious, pre-meditated, and CLEARLY avoidable in every sense of the word) is not about "an eye for an eye," it's about a person has killed before and they should not be allowed to do it again. Killing them is the only way to make sure they don't.
This kind of law or edit/addition to a law is an abuse of the law's reason for existing. In my eyes, which is again that the murder is committed with full knowledge of the fact that the person murdering is maliciously and with pre-meditation taking another's life. There's no such thing as Accidental Murder.
And, Duster... this topic is complicated enough without involving talk of reincarnation. Let's not go there.