dolan@ihnp1.UUCP (Mike Dolan) (03/27/84)
<line-eater food> Sophie posed an interesting question a while back concerning the difference between a woman bearing a child and replacement organs. I don't have access to her articles, but I believe I can restate her question pretty accurately. (Sophie, please feel free to correct or fine-tune this if necessary.) If a woman could be forced by law to bear a child until it was capable of living outside her womb, why couldn't individuals be forced to give up portions of their bodies as transplants, etc. to support the lives of others? The major distinction between bearing a child and donating organs and limbs is that in bearing a child, no part of the mother's body is given up. At the end of the child bearing, the mother's entire body still remains intact. When organs are donated, there is an actual physical loss to the donating individual. This is true even when the body may be capable of regenerating the lost part, such as in the case of a blood transfusion. Have a good day, Mike Dolan AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL ihnp4!ihnp1!dolan
saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (03/28/84)
Actually I was comparing enforced lending of the womb with enforced
lending of other resources of the body which are renewable like blood,
skin and bone marrow (I think, but I am not sure about the replaceability
of bone marrow).
In pregnancy, the child does draw sometimes irreplaceable nutrients from
the mother's body. Calcium seems to be the main one and it also seems
that no matter what diet one follows during pregnancy, a certain decalcifica-
tion of the mother occurs. Pregnancy tends to exacerbate other medical
problems, such as bad circulation or skeletal problems (I can't think of the
right term for it right now) and may do some irreparable dammage in those
areas. It is a process which in general draws from the mother's body as whatever
nutrient is missing from the mother's diet might be taken from the mother's
body if it is available. The difference between pregnancy and organ donations
is that it is not easy to pinpoint what is taken in pregnancy because it is more
generalised and vague than a missing organ.
So the comparison with blood transfusions is more valid than with organs.
Pregnancy is like the donation of organs or blood or whatever in that the
PROCESS of donating is a potentially dangerous one with possibilities of
complications. The mortality rate for child-birth is still higher than the
mortality rate for early abortions in countries with good hygienical
conditions and good health care services. I do not know how those rates
compare with the mortality and/or complication rates of organ donations, but
they are clearly higher than the rates for blood donations and probably skin
donations too.
So I think that the comparison between "lending" of the mother's body and
donation of renewable (at least) resources like blood or skin still hold.
Sophie Quigley
...!{decvax,allegra}!watmath!saquigleyix192@sdccs6.UUCP (03/28/84)
[] From: ...ihnp4!ihnp1!dolan (Mike Dolan) > The major distinction between bearing a child and donating organs > and limbs is that in bearing a child, no part of the mother's body > is given up. At the end of the child bearing, the mother's entire > body still remains intact. When organs are donated, there is an > actual physical loss to the donating individual. This is true even > when the body may be capable of regenerating the lost part, such as > in the case of a blood transfusion. Yes Mike, afterwards the BODY is intact. But there's more to a person than their body -- their mind, their life, their FUTURE. Just because the woman's body is basically unchanged after a birth (gimme a break on the delivery changes!), that does not mean that everything else about her will be just as unchanged. Suppose someone just handed you a child. Are you ready for it? Will you be able to father it and take care of it up until college, just as you are now, married or not? Most people are not ready for a child, just out of the blue! Eight months of preparation is not much time, either. Can you get married and finantially well-settled in eight months? While there is no physical loss to the mother, refusing an abortion will certainly take away a lot of futures from the woman involved, possibly all her chances for a better life. In that, there is a bigger loss than any organ donor would take. Kenn the Kenf ...!sdcsvax!kenn ...!sdcsvax!sdccs6!ix192 ...!sdcsvax!sdccsu3!kenn