z@rocksvax.UUCP (Jim Ziobro) (08/03/84)
>I don't believe in an absolute right to life for every conceived human being, >a right which outweighs *every* other consideration that does not >significantly endanger another human's life. Social convenience sometimes >*does* take precedence ... Not to pick on the author but he has given the best reason for abortion. It seems more and more Americans(people?) are giving a higher value to "convenience" and indeed those who persue personal convenience are being praised! Hits the nail on the head. Unfortunately the nail is standing squarely on our heads. At least I feel a spike working it's way towards the medula oblongata. Er, uh... I don't like thinking about this - let's go back to arguing when life begins and women's rights. "Hey, Santa, pass the bottle." -- //Z\\ James M. Ziobro Ziobro.Henr@Xerox.ARPA {rochester,amd,sunybcs,allegra}!rocksvax!z
das@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/06/84)
... I said: >I don't believe in an absolute right to life for every conceived human >being, a right which outweighs *every* other consideration that does not >significantly endanger another human's life. Social convenience >sometimes *does* take precedence ... James Ziobro replies: >>... It seems more and more Americans(people?) are giving a >>higher value to "convenience" and indeed those who persue personal >>convenience are being praised! ... "Convenience" may have been the wrong word for me to use, since it carries connotations of having trivial reasons. By "social convenience" I meant to include the weightier issues, such as allocation of social resources. I guess I thought that was clear from the rest of my posting. Maybe I'm reading something into the phrase about praising the pursuit of personal convenience, but let me restate what I said in my original posting: Many women who have explained their reasons for having an abortion have made it clear the decision was not a capricious one. On another note, who is familiar with Japanese attitudes on abortion? The Pill is illegal in Japan (for health reasons), and I'm not sure of the legality of other non-rhythm methods, but my understanding is that abortion is the most commonly used non-rhythm birth-control method in Japan. (I think the situation is the same in the Soviet Union, but I want to compare the U.S. to a culture that has not been affected strongly by Christianity.)