kierthos: (Default)
kierthos ([personal profile] kierthos) wrote2006-02-27 01:16 pm

This just in...

The Pope is fucking nuts.

Now, I'll just sit here and wait for the flood (trickle?) of people who agree/disagree/tell me I'm going to Hell.

Edit: Just put a comic about this up on [livejournal.com profile] scurrying_light

[identity profile] morinon.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
This is nothing new. This has been the viewpoint of the Catholic Church for some time.

[identity profile] kierthos.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I know it's been their position that life begins at conception. But the whole "embryos have rights" thing is new to me. I've never heard it phrased like that before. (Okay, other then right to be born.)

[identity profile] morinon.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
If you contend that they are living human beings, then you must contend that they have the same rights as living human beings. It's just logic.

[identity profile] kierthos.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, I'm not exactly explaining what my belief is. Let me try this in more detail.

I don't believe that life being at conception. Conception occurs when an egg is fertilized by a sperm. If I did believe that life begins at conception, it would logically follow that any woman who uses a 'morning after' pill would be guilty of ending a life (i.e. murder). I don't believe that either.

So, then, I ask myself... at what point does life begin? When the fertilized egg splits into 2 cells? 4 cells? Again, no. How about when the embryonic stage is over (roughly 8 weeks after fertilization)? Okay, possibly. But at two months, the fetus isn't going to survive on it's own. But then we're at that tricky logical fence where "if it can die, doesn't that prove it was alive?"

I admit, it's a gray area, morally and legally. But I have a hard time saying "Yes, this mass of several hundred cells has rights." without a wry look on my face.

[identity profile] morinon.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
I was talking about the Catholic belief that life begins at conception. They're the ones who contend that. Personally, if I had to give a good legal limit on abortions, (which is not my personal view, mind) I'd say nothing after the first trimester, or after a month of finding out you're pregnant, unless it's a case of the mother being in mortal danger.