What I listened to / read
When I came across "Irish abortion referendum: Vote to be held in May", in the Health section of the BBC News, my immediate reactions suggested it was worth blogging.
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What it says
The article says that a referendum will be held in May on whether Ireland should end its its almost total constitutional ban on abortion, which results in thousands of Irish women travelling to England and Wales to get the safe, legal abortions that they are denied by the laws of their own country.
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My response
The reason for Ireland's near total ban on abortion is perhaps understandable, but it is also wrong. The reason is that people think a foetus is in fact a human being. It is certainly alive, but that cannot be a good reason to kill it, since the pigs and ducks we eat are also alive until we kill them to turn them into tasty pork or cassoulet. As daily eating habits prove, very few human beings actually believe that there is anything sacred about life. But perhaps there is something sacred about human life?That sounds a bit more plausible, but it's too vague to be helpful, being in need of clarification. The useful question to ask is: What makes human life so special? To avoid charges of prejudice, this question needs to be widened a little to: What makes any life so special that it would be wrong to kill it?
I can think of no answer to this question that would not apply as strongly to a foetus as it does to a pig about to be turned into bacon. A human foetus is not intelligent. It has no more emotional life, social ties or any other quality than a pig has, so any reason given for not killing the foetus must also demand strict vegetarianism.
Actually, I think the clue to the reason some nations still have antiquated abortion laws in 2017 can be seen in the map, which can be read like a graph to show the strong correlation between religion and morally bad law. The most religious nations have the worst abortion laws, supporting the idea enshrined in the excellent US Constitution that religion should be kept out of politics. While they might have good teaching for individual believers, religions cannot be trusted as a foundation for morally good laws for nations, as we see in Ireland, where the Catholic religion has long interfered in public policy to the great harm of women in that country.
This took me 20 minutes to write, although up to 40 minutes sounds reasonable for a full post, and perhaps even an hour on a topic about which you are passionate.
ReplyDeleteThe daily blog comments take much less time to give you some regular reading and writing practice.
I totally agree with you in all point, Naturally, Human is still counted as an organism in animal kingdom same as pig or other animals. we are different since we have expressing emotion and also have a sophisticated social system, but it is not enough to make us special and prevent from prejudice. I also have a question that if the baby is still at embryo and not from the organ system which might take at least three month, could it possible to abort? As I have learned in human ethics, Once the foetus could be counted as a human and had a life, it should be have a certain structure and form the organ system only. Another question is that if we found that babies would born with the severe birth defect and doctor recommend to abort, would it be illegal?
ReplyDeleteThanks you
I like the questions that Top invites us to respond to. When, if ever, is abortion morally OK? Or is it always morally acceptable if that's what the mother wants?
DeleteI also think that Top suggests that there are relevant facts that science can provide to help decide the moral questions here.