psuvm%cjc@psuvax.UUCP (04/24/84)
> to take care of them??? If you want to tackle the job, & can find enough helpers to make a difference, go to it - I'll cheer you on. I've not been very clear at expressing myself, but I've been hoping someone would admit there is already a terrible lot of suffering among the indisputably living which someone ought to try to alleviate. > I note that you mention "Western Hemisphere". > Why not be more precise about it, and say "south of the Rio Grande"... Because my source said 'Western Hemisphere' only. I agree the majority of them are probably in Latin America, but cities in the USA have 'runaway' (aka. 'pushout') children surviving by prostitution, theft, etc. Are you as active in helping them as you are in the anti-abortion movement? Do you think that, if abortion is prohibited, they will somehow benefit? How? > a land with a stablized > population, that invented contraception, I assume you mean the USA., but our population grew by 11% in the decade 1970-1980, and the birth rate has been rising in the 1980's. (For comparison, growth was 33-35% per decade in 1800-1850, years of large pioneer families & high immigration) Further, our birth rate (about 16 per 1000 population) is higher than nearly every European country, including Italy (11.2/1000) a strongly Catholic nation. > what IS the difference between a fetus and an infant, We've been through this; the less developed the organism, the less capable it is of awareness. It's not an on-off switch. >that makes infanticide so abhorrent that abortion is preferable, Are you saying that abortion is NOT preferable to infanticide? The Athenians, who were a highly civilized society, considered infanticide to be normal. Why do you believe so strongly that **EVERY** human life must be preserved? You just insist it is the only basis for discussion without ever offering any reason. Is it 'animal instinct'? > Also, what in > the argument presented prevents someone from advocating that those Nothing prevents anyone from advocating anything. If enough agree it might get done; if enough disagree, or the powers-that-be don't like it, the advocate might lose his head or be stoned to death. How do you think things happen anyway? C. Clark cjc@psuvm (bitnet)