In the case of rape, which is where the rubber meets the road on this issue in my eyes, where is the "we" in that scenario? We're not talking about forcing the rape victim to fill out some paper work or to pee in a cup here; we're talking about 9 months of pregnancy and child birth. Who are you to have a say in that decision? She no longer has a choice not because reality so dictates, but because of the say so of someone who has no burden to bear once the decision is made, doesn't have to deal with the accompanying physical/emotional/financial fallout, wasn't raped, etc.? You get to prance off on your moral high horse after you've told all the silly rape victims of the world not only where their priorities should lie, but where they will lie, never having walked in their shoes.
I just can't wrap my mind around the arrogance of someone who thinks they get the final say over the victim in such cases. That a belief that we're all unique little snow flakes entitled to life somehow justifies perpetrating what could be a second and more devastating victimization. The whole human life above all else argument is idealistic to the point of being juvenile.
For example, consider a Typhoid Mary hypothetical. We know a child is a carrier of some super pathogen that will result in the deaths of hundreds of other human beings. The only way to prevent this mass death is the destruction of the child who would have otherwise continued on living a healthy life. Do we kill it? One to save hundreds of lives or thousands or millions? Surely the right of the many to life outweighs the right of the one? Do we consign them to death to let one innocent live? Keep in mind "[w]hat can't be done is discuss with someone who is inconsistent in any way. Their philosophy must continue, consistently, to all ends."
To me there exist considerations that trump innocent human life. The aforementioned are two of them. What about you big guy?
The idea is that the rape victim is not superior to her baby. What would make her so? And the world we live in stinks for all, sorry. (Why?)
We aren't entitled to life. We are also not entitled to health or safety or comfort. But in some cases we can try to ensure the best for all involved.
Your hypothetical is not the same as what we are talking about here. But, if we're trying to do the best we can for all involved, we should allow the mother and child to live, instead of aborting, and we should kill the person carrying the pathogen. While I don't think a society will ever have to make a decision like that one (and I think there is a reason for that), it is interesting to note that the basis of Christianity is one, innocent, giving up his life for the lives (souls) of countless others.
This is why I say God can't be removed from these discussions because that is what gives me my consistency. Human logic, common morality, ethics, all are faulty and all can be transcended. But, we can't always know the why's and how's and problems are part of the problem.
People interpret God differently than others. Take this for example:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4Nicodemus *said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7"Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit,"
Did John 3:5 just reference life beginning at being born of water? As in being born of amniotic fluid?
That may seem as a stretch to a christrian pro-lifer - but for someone looking for biblical reference to when life becomes life... that's the closest I've ever found. Furthermore, for a group of people that believe in an afterlife - why is death such a tragic thing? Would a soul prefer the life of an unwanted/unloved child? Seems like that would lead a person to a life leading to Hell... If you believe such a place.
