Abortion

Showing only those parts of the discussion which lead to #225 and its comments.

See full discussion instead
  Log in or sign up to participate in this discussion.
With an account, you can revise, criticize, and comment on ideas.

Discussions can branch out indefinitely. Zoom out for the bird’s-eye view.
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP revised about 1 year ago·#299· Collapse
3rd of 3 versions leading to #225

I’m pro abortion but I have some pro life in me.

Banning the abortion of a zygote seems ridiculous. So does aborting a seven-month-old fetus.

Why not go with: you can abort until the nervous system develops.

Clearly, an embryo without a nervous system can’t be sentient and thus can’t be a person, right? And as long as it’s not a person, it doesn’t have any rights.

According to https://www.neurosciencefoundation.org/post/brain-development-in-fetus, “an embryo’s brain and nervous system begin to develop at around the 6-week mark.” And: “At as early as 8 weeks (about 2 months), you can see physical evidence of the brain working (the electric impulses) as ultrasounds show the embryo moving.”

This idea is for viable pregnancies only. Other considerations may apply for non-viable ones.

Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 1 year ago·#225· Collapse

i agree that morally the cutoff point should be personhood, though i think that probably happens later than the development of nervous system

Criticism of #299Criticized1oustanding criticism
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 1 year ago·#226· Collapse

Personhood presumably does come in later on, but we don’t know exactly when. Since the development of the nervous system is the earliest possible point, that’s the time we should choose if we want to be careful.

Criticism of #225