It is part of the parent/child relationship that the parent must know when it is okay for the child to start eating certain foods or watching certain shows on TV. The infamous line "But when will I be old enough?" is asked everyday by some child around the world when seeking to buy candy at the grocery store or who wants to watch MTV on the new big screen. But the first question a person must answer is when is a baby old enough to gain their basic human rights, the right to live instead of being killed/aborted? Most people today believe the point of no return is somewhere between conception and when the fetus begins to think and feel.
The same issue is also brought up in abortion and even to an extent a parallel lies in homeland security. The subject of abortion is constantly raising the ethical issue of aborting a growing life and compromises have been made as to what point in a pregnancy it is still okay to get an abortion. Homeland security also questions a persons basic human rights and rights innately given to you by the government. For some people these rights are simply taken away if the government has any suspicion without being given a reason, just as an embryo is never given a choice to have its rights taken.
Through all of the events that contributed to the development of stem cells and its controversy, some issues have gone on for years and I have a feeling the question of when life truly starts is going to be one of them.
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5 comments:
I think that you present some interesting ideas. I like the way that you brought in Homeland Security to create a parallel that I had never thought of before. Your blog presents the issue of the rights of an individual. I can't really tell what you think. It seems that in this post you were more pro-life, but in previous postings, you have been more pro-choice. Although I feel that the parallels drawn between Homeland Security and abortion are interesting and original, but I would have like to see this good idea progressed further. Good job so far though.
Ashton,
I am mostly pro-choice when it comes to abortion and I am very strongly for embryonic stem cell research. However, I am trying to understand the other point of view a little more. I tried to draw the parallel to homeland security because Bush talks so much about how important it is to give these cells their basic human rights when he now can strip them off of American citizens.
Some people say life starts once the sperm meets the egg. Others say it is when the fetus can think for itself. I don't think anyone will every know because we can't really test brain activity in such a small human being that is still in the mother's uterus, or can we? By 'basic human rights' do you mean the right to live? Because whenever I see human rights I think of when someone is 18 and they are considered an adult and can vote. But what other human rights are you talking about other than the right to live?
your post was very well organized, it brought up some really good points that caught my attention. I have never really followed the issue of rights as a human being. So I will be sure to follow up on your blogs to learn about life itself, my rights as a human being.
healthy lungs,
As far as I have researched, there is no way to know when conscious thought exactly begins and what thoughts first occur, how they progress, so on and so forth. When I say basic human rights, I first of all mean the right to live, and second of all and to many people, most importantly, the conscious decision of the choice to live instead of being aborted or used for research. However, as I think about this, I can see how this cross territory with laws against suicide and assisted suicide. When a person makes a conscious decision about when they die and how there are laws surrounding that. Needless to say though, this is a very large topic for another day!
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