Personhood

[asterroc]

As if there weren't enough silly people going about thinking that their babies fetuses were full-fledged humans, there's now count-down tickers you can put on your blog that count how "old" it is and in what stage of development. You'd think that a ticker with milemarkers such as "my spine is growing," "my lungs are mature," and "my brain is growing fast," would not convince people of the humanity of feti, but ...

Our hand-drawn pregnancy tickers are ideal for modern parents to share the progress of their pregnancy.

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I don't know about you, but I anthropomorphize my rabbit, and yet I'm perfectly okay with her not having the same rights as humans. I can't imagine not anthropomorphizing something as human-looking as an embryo, especially considering that if left to its own devices it's going to turn into a person.

I'm squarely on the side of choice but I don't feel that opinion rests on any denigration of embryos, and more on my respect for people's bodies. If we can't force people to donate their organs even after their death, I simply don't see why women need to donate the use of their bodies for nine months of their lives if a proto-human takes root there. Because I have some moral regard for embryos (especially as the term progresses and they resemble babies more and more, to the point where "a collection of cells" becomes a patently ridiculous description), I think abortion is a horrible, sad thing, but admit that sometimes it's a horrible, sad necessity. I get the impression that most women who have had abortions feel the same way.

This is just a sort of sensitive topic for me because I've read too much silly sci-fi to be comfortable with dehumanizing entities for political purposes, and I like to err on the side of believing that living beings (like animals) have moral value (hence my vegetarianism). I think it's straightforward that, say, undifferentiated cells of a blastula have no present status as a sentient being, but at the same time if our society cares enough about cattle to make laws requiring humane slaughter, why can't we have laws making it a crime [albeit one more minor than homicide] to wilfully kill a fetus outside of a medical context?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Hm. Thought-provoking comments.

I think the reason I want to dehumanize fetuses is partially to get others to support my political view, and partially to justify my own opinions. I do feel it's morally better to be an organic, locally-grown, vegan, but I don't feel so strongly enough to become one myself. But I am slowly introducing small modifications to my shopping habits that make a difference in the long run, such as I only buy organic or free range eggs except when I need to make hardboiled eggs (the shells are too tough to peel well from the healthy birds). I've been consistently buying orgnaic baby carrots for a year now, and just the last time I bought apple cider I compared two brands and picked the closer address (Maine, unfortunately).

It's easier for me to do things I find wrong if I can justify them somehow, or ignore the parts that I find wrong. While eating shrimp I try not to think of how many lives I took. I don't even know the ecological dangers of shrimp farming and I am resisting Wikipedia-ing them. I cannot pick a live lobster, but I'll eat one cooked if I didn't see the tanks on my way in to the restuarant. :-P