Word: womb
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...just as alive and just as human as the rest of us. Indeed, you acknowledge the failure of your "viability" rationale: "It is true, though, that because of technological advances in the coming decade or two, almost every fertilized egg will be able to develop independently outside the womb." And yet you cling to your original premise that a fetus is not human...
First, the staff argues that the fetus does not have rights until it "has reached a state [in which it can] survive on its own or with the aid of machinery if extracted from the womb." But the staff argues that abortion will still be morally acceptable when medical technology becomes capable of saving very young fetuses, making them "viable" according to the ahove definition. The staff never resolves this apparent (and real) inconsistency. Using the argument that a fetus' viability determines its moral worth renders the staff vulnerable to the argument it anticipates: that if viability is the criterion...
Indeed, the staff's failure to distinguish the young fetus from the older fetus (which the staff agrees must not be aborted) plagues the editorial from start to finish. The argument that "the mother knows what's best for her and for the unborn fetus in her womb" is unreasonable not only because the mother's decision to kill the fetus is rarely a product of her concern for the fetus' interests but also because the staff acknowledges that the mother would not be allowed to abort an older (third-trimester) fetus. If the right to privacy invoked...
...Stolen Future (Dutton; $24.95) says a wide range of reproduction-related ills may be caused by chemical pollutants in the environment, including DDT, some forms of dioxins and PCBs, and a number of other synthetic substances. The idea is that exposure to even traces of these chemicals in the womb can interfere with proper development of the reproductive system, leading to serious consequences years or decades later. Male infertility is just one part of the problem, say the authors; these pollutants may also be responsible for a rise in breast and other cancers in humans, along with aberrant mating behavior...
...choose abortion at any time, for any reason and over any other cries for justice. A just society, however, will weigh the "right" to abortion against other legitimate concerns, including the right of another developing life. It will then consider how to nurture that life--both in the womb and after birth--through proper education, medical insurance and child care...