lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.) (03/10/84)
I support the legality of abortion, but I think that the moral arguments against it have a lot of merit. I find the comparison of a human fetus with a tapeworm to be repellant. I also disagree with the accusation that anti-abortionists are motivated by a desire to use pregnancy as a punishment. It seems to me that they are advocating individual responsibility. I don't find the concept that humans have responsibilities strange at all. Further, I don't think religious moralism is the only route to this position. When I watched LIFE ON EARTH, I was struck by the emphasis that was placed on reproductive strategies. I was particularly impressed by the various techniques that frogs employ to enhance the survival chances of the offspring. We finally come to the ultimate mammalian strategy of total maternal sustenance and protection. It's quite ironic that this adaptation is seized on as a philosophical justification for the destruction of the fetus. I see religious principles as one way of recognizing our limitations and the context of our place in nature. I sympathize with Paul Dubuc and others who see the total abandonment of any such perspective as a frightening thing. I depart from them, though, when they advocate absolute standards of morality as an alternative to this prospect. In another vein, I'd like to point out how the popular media presents an extremely sentimental view of pregnancy --- when the intended audience comprises those who intend to bear the child. See? under these circumstances one doesn't hesitate to speak of the "mother" and the "child". No mention is made of tapeworms. I think that the tapeworm rhetoric is required to steel oneself against one's natural abhorrence for the act of abortion, and also by the specious notion that the arguments against abortion must be opposed by belittling them. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew