80sU2isBest said:
Irvine, you have accused people of faith of ignoring science to believe in the Bible. But with abortion, you actually have fetal development timelines that show human functions, such as a beating heart, beginning at very early stages, not to mention the consensus of embryologists worldwide saying that human life begins at fertilization, and yet you still stick by your prochoice guns. That's ignoring with a capital I.
Living breathing people matter to me as much as fetuses do.
firstly, it is not my intention to get into an abortion debate that centers on the fetus and when it is or is not a human being. i think that misses what the issue is about entirely.
i also think you're making huge, huge sweeping statements about a "worldwide consensus" -- my father is a doctor, and i know that he hasn't reached that consensus yet and is unaware that such a position exists. i do think the science is complex, and often in the eye of the beholder, and as such i take a rather agnostic approach. from a layman's perspective, i have a very, very difficult time seeing how a fertalized egg is the equivalent of a breathing, crying, eating, pooping baby. it doesn't make any rational sense.
as for the rest of the science, i'll step aside and let Pax handle that -- she did a beautiful job with this in another thread, and i couldn't possibly improve upon it.
for me, the issue is less about biology and more about quality of life for both mother and fetus. i view it as a woman's issue, and the fact remains that until women are able to determine exactly when and how they get pregnant they will never achieve equal economic status as men. i don't like abortion, i think it's a very sad choice, but i also think that outlawing abortion is probably the worst way to reduce the incidence of abortion. let's start with comprehensive sex education, and then universal health care, and let's truly be pro-child instead of pro-birth.
we have a different understanding of the issue rooted in our different views on life. i don't mean this to come across as patronizing, but it probably will: you tend to see the world in very black-and-white terms, and as such abortion is either murder or it is not. i see a very, very grey world, and i see abortion as a symptom of a much greater problem and i see the science of the fetus as very murky indeed. as such, i'd rather keep women in control of their uterus and have every child be a wanted child.