A sometimes fictional broadening on actual events.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
To use or not to use?
Plan B or The Morning After Pill causes arm waving, voice shaking debate on The View
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
ahh, Barbara, always the voice of reason.
gotta respect Elizabeth's passion, but if she let anyone get more than a few words in edgewise, it might have been a more productive conversation. it feels sort of like watching myself freak out during Board of Trustees meetings, or something. maybe not the best tactic.
(note -- I considered deleting all of the following and just noting that I'm paying attention to this dialogue, because I don't really feel entitled to a soapbox on this issue. but maybe it can be a springboard, or something, for somebody else.)
But, I just can't understand why a zygote -- two cells -- is a more valuable form of life than the developing/developed woman who will have to carry it to term and then have her choices dictated by what is then an undeniable responsibility.
Is it human chauvenism? I am doubtful that Elizabeth feels as strongly about protecting a catepillar -- a living thing due to develop further into something more complex and more beautiful -- as she does about a zygote, but there is certainly a severed future involved there. The implication is that human life -- any human life regardless of shape or form -- is more important than other forms of life. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't. I know a lot of people whose lives may not be as beautiful as a single butterfly -- but I'm also ill at ease making that sort of a judgement/comparison.
Is it classism? I am doubtful that Elizabeth would feel the same way if she knew many people with unwanted pregnancies who would, if they felt that their zygote's life was paramount, be bringing their children into terrible or simply just insufficiently nourishing environments and unhealthy, self-destructive communities, on which additional children can be a significant burden.
There's a lot of people on this world. For me this question comes down to the quality of our lives, not the quantity of life. We have a lot to learn about improving our lives' qualities, but quantity is certainly an easier straw to grasp at.
And, although I wouldn't say that for me it is a defining mission, I'm far more interested in maintaining biodiversity and protecting endangered species -- things that improve the quality of life for all living things -- than I am in making sure that every potential human life comes to be.
I also believe that there's a good chance that every additional human mouth may mean, in times to come, increased malnutrition and suffering for everyone.
In the end, though, it's not for people like me to decide based on theory or principle. And it may not be for anyone to decide in a broad way for anyone else. That is to say, and I'm sorry to kick it typical liberal, but this is about women's rights. I don't have the gift of being able to create and nurture life and I don't have the right to decide how that gift should or should not be used.
1. Who determines quality of life? Can one person make that decision for another? If I were to come across a homeless and pathologically insane man, and it were obvious that his life would never improve, would I be justified in killing him for mercy's sake?
2. Do you find any difference in worth between a catepilliar and a human? Or any other animal and a human? If so, is there an absolute difference or a degree of difference? If there is a degree of difference, by what means do you determine the degree of worth?
2a. In what ways might someone's life be considered beautiful or not beautiful? How is the relative beauty determined?
3. Is abortion a solution for population problems, assuming such problems exist? Is abortion the best solution for the lower class to control their reproduction? If it's not the best way, why not? What is the problem with it?
3a. Does overpopulation in some segments of the world justify abortion for all segments of the world? If not, why not? If so, how?
4. Why is a man's (male) opinion on this debate less valid than a woman's? Based on that answer, what is the validity of a sterile woman's opinion? An old woman's opinion?
5. What is a human? "A human has the qualities XYZ." Test your definition of a human on: a newborn infant, a premature infant in an incubator, a man with no arms or legs or otherwise severely deformed, conjoined twins, the severly mentally handicapped, a comatose person, a person undergoing surgery, a sleeping person.
5a. Is there such a thing as "degrees of humanness"?
6. Apply the definition of a human from question 5 to an embryo. Is an embryo a human? Do the embryos have rights? Are they the same rights as a adult human? If not, why not?
6a. Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was an embryo, my mother drank too much." In other words, can ~I~ say that ~I~ was an embryo? Can I identify myself as having been the embryo that eventually became me? At what point did I become an "I"?
6b. All the molecules in my body come from the food I eat (and air I breathe.)Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was a hamburger, I bought and ate myself." What is the difference between sentences 6b and 6a?
6c. What about these sentences? "When I was a sperm, I swam towards my mother's egg." Or... "When I was an egg, my father's sperm swam towards me." Or... "When I was a sperm, I swam towards me the egg." If none of these, then how about: "I was concieved at 10:03pm, Feb 14th 1977, after my father's sperm implanted itself into my mother's egg." If not the first three, then why the last one?
7. Suppose a woman were to find herself in the situation of being alone in the wilderness with an infant totally dependent on her. If she were to end that infant's life, would that be murder?
1. Who determines quality of life? Can one person make that decision for another? If I were to come across a homeless and pathologically insane man, and it were obvious that his life would never improve, would I be justified in killing him for mercy's sake?
2. Do you find any difference in worth between a catepilliar and a human? Or any other animal and a human? If so, is there an absolute difference or a degree of difference? If there is a degree of difference, by what means do you determine the degree of worth?
2a. In what ways might someone's life be considered beautiful or not beautiful? How is the relative beauty determined?
3. Is abortion a solution for population problems, assuming such problems exist? Is abortion the best solution for the lower class to control their reproduction? If it's not the best way, why not? What is the problem with it?
3a. Does overpopulation in some segments of the world justify abortion for all segments of the world? If not, why not? If so, how?
4. Why is a man's (male) opinion on this debate less valid than a woman's? Based on that answer, what is the validity of a sterile woman's opinion? An old woman's opinion?
5. What is a human? "A human has the qualities XYZ." Test your definition of a human on: a newborn infant, a premature infant in an incubator, a man with no arms or legs or otherwise severely deformed, conjoined twins, the severly mentally handicapped, a comatose person, a person undergoing surgery, a sleeping person.
5a. Is there such a thing as "degrees of humanness"?
6. Apply the definition of a human from question 5 to an embryo. Is an embryo a human? Do the embryos have rights? Are they the same rights as a adult human? If not, why not?
6a. Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was an embryo, my mother drank too much." In other words, can ~I~ say that ~I~ was an embryo? Can I identify myself as having been the embryo that eventually became me? At what point did I become an "I"?
6b. All the molecules in my body come from the food I eat (and air I breathe.)Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was a hamburger, I bought and ate myself." What is the difference between sentences 6b and 6a?
6c. What about these sentences? "When I was a sperm, I swam towards my mother's egg." Or... "When I was an egg, my father's sperm swam towards me." Or... "When I was a sperm, I swam towards me the egg." If none of these, then how about: "I was concieved at 10:03pm, Feb 14th 1977, after my father's sperm implanted itself into my mother's egg." If not the first three, then why the last one?
7. Suppose a woman were to find herself in the situation of being alone in the wilderness with an infant totally dependent on her. If she were to end that infant's life, would that be murder?
3 comments:
ahh, Barbara, always the voice of reason.
gotta respect Elizabeth's passion, but if she let anyone get more than a few words in edgewise, it might have been a more productive conversation. it feels sort of like watching myself freak out during Board of Trustees meetings, or something. maybe not the best tactic.
(note -- I considered deleting all of the following and just noting that I'm paying attention to this dialogue, because I don't really feel entitled to a soapbox on this issue. but maybe it can be a springboard, or something, for somebody else.)
But, I just can't understand why a zygote -- two cells -- is a more valuable form of life than the developing/developed woman who will have to carry it to term and then have her choices dictated by what is then an undeniable responsibility.
Is it human chauvenism? I am doubtful that Elizabeth feels as strongly about protecting a catepillar -- a living thing due to develop further into something more complex and more beautiful -- as she does about a zygote, but there is certainly a severed future involved there. The implication is that human life -- any human life regardless of shape or form -- is more important than other forms of life. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't. I know a lot of people whose lives may not be as beautiful as a single butterfly -- but I'm also ill at ease making that sort of a judgement/comparison.
Is it classism? I am doubtful that Elizabeth would feel the same way if she knew many people with unwanted pregnancies who would, if they felt that their zygote's life was paramount, be bringing their children into terrible or simply just insufficiently nourishing environments and unhealthy, self-destructive communities, on which additional children can be a significant burden.
There's a lot of people on this world. For me this question comes down to the quality of our lives, not the quantity of life. We have a lot to learn about improving our lives' qualities, but quantity is certainly an easier straw to grasp at.
And, although I wouldn't say that for me it is a defining mission, I'm far more interested in maintaining biodiversity and protecting endangered species -- things that improve the quality of life for all living things -- than I am in making sure that every potential human life comes to be.
I also believe that there's a good chance that every additional human mouth may mean, in times to come, increased malnutrition and suffering for everyone.
In the end, though, it's not for people like me to decide based on theory or principle. And it may not be for anyone to decide in a broad way for anyone else. That is to say, and I'm sorry to kick it typical liberal, but this is about women's rights. I don't have the gift of being able to create and nurture life and I don't have the right to decide how that gift should or should not be used.
Some open ended questions:
1. Who determines quality of life? Can one person make that decision for another? If I were to come across a homeless and pathologically insane man, and it were obvious that his life would never improve, would I be justified in killing him for mercy's sake?
2. Do you find any difference in worth between a catepilliar and a human? Or any other animal and a human? If so, is there an absolute difference or a degree of difference? If there is a degree of difference, by what means do you determine the degree of worth?
2a. In what ways might someone's life be considered beautiful or not beautiful? How is the relative beauty determined?
3. Is abortion a solution for population problems, assuming such problems exist? Is abortion the best solution for the lower class to control their reproduction? If it's not the best way, why not? What is the problem with it?
3a. Does overpopulation in some segments of the world justify abortion for all segments of the world? If not, why not? If so, how?
4. Why is a man's (male) opinion on this debate less valid than a woman's? Based on that answer, what is the validity of a sterile woman's opinion? An old woman's opinion?
5. What is a human? "A human has the qualities XYZ." Test your definition of a human on: a newborn infant, a premature infant in an incubator, a man with no arms or legs or otherwise severely deformed, conjoined twins, the severly mentally handicapped, a comatose person, a person undergoing surgery, a sleeping person.
5a. Is there such a thing as "degrees of humanness"?
6. Apply the definition of a human from question 5 to an embryo. Is an embryo a human? Do the embryos have rights? Are they the same rights as a adult human? If not, why not?
6a. Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was an embryo, my mother drank too much." In other words, can ~I~ say that ~I~ was an embryo? Can I identify myself as having been the embryo that eventually became me? At what point did I become an "I"?
6b. All the molecules in my body come from the food I eat (and air I breathe.)Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was a hamburger, I bought and ate myself." What is the difference between sentences 6b and 6a?
6c. What about these sentences? "When I was a sperm, I swam towards my mother's egg." Or... "When I was an egg, my father's sperm swam towards me." Or... "When I was a sperm, I swam towards me the egg." If none of these, then how about: "I was concieved at 10:03pm, Feb 14th 1977, after my father's sperm implanted itself into my mother's egg." If not the first three, then why the last one?
7. Suppose a woman were to find herself in the situation of being alone in the wilderness with an infant totally dependent on her. If she were to end that infant's life, would that be murder?
Some open ended questions:
1. Who determines quality of life? Can one person make that decision for another? If I were to come across a homeless and pathologically insane man, and it were obvious that his life would never improve, would I be justified in killing him for mercy's sake?
2. Do you find any difference in worth between a catepilliar and a human? Or any other animal and a human? If so, is there an absolute difference or a degree of difference? If there is a degree of difference, by what means do you determine the degree of worth?
2a. In what ways might someone's life be considered beautiful or not beautiful? How is the relative beauty determined?
3. Is abortion a solution for population problems, assuming such problems exist? Is abortion the best solution for the lower class to control their reproduction? If it's not the best way, why not? What is the problem with it?
3a. Does overpopulation in some segments of the world justify abortion for all segments of the world? If not, why not? If so, how?
4. Why is a man's (male) opinion on this debate less valid than a woman's? Based on that answer, what is the validity of a sterile woman's opinion? An old woman's opinion?
5. What is a human? "A human has the qualities XYZ." Test your definition of a human on: a newborn infant, a premature infant in an incubator, a man with no arms or legs or otherwise severely deformed, conjoined twins, the severly mentally handicapped, a comatose person, a person undergoing surgery, a sleeping person.
5a. Is there such a thing as "degrees of humanness"?
6. Apply the definition of a human from question 5 to an embryo. Is an embryo a human? Do the embryos have rights? Are they the same rights as a adult human? If not, why not?
6a. Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was an embryo, my mother drank too much." In other words, can ~I~ say that ~I~ was an embryo? Can I identify myself as having been the embryo that eventually became me? At what point did I become an "I"?
6b. All the molecules in my body come from the food I eat (and air I breathe.)Is the following sentence sensical: "When I was a hamburger, I bought and ate myself." What is the difference between sentences 6b and 6a?
6c. What about these sentences? "When I was a sperm, I swam towards my mother's egg." Or... "When I was an egg, my father's sperm swam towards me." Or... "When I was a sperm, I swam towards me the egg." If none of these, then how about: "I was concieved at 10:03pm, Feb 14th 1977, after my father's sperm implanted itself into my mother's egg." If not the first three, then why the last one?
7. Suppose a woman were to find herself in the situation of being alone in the wilderness with an infant totally dependent on her. If she were to end that infant's life, would that be murder?
Post a Comment