names
when does human life begin? ah, what a wonderful can of worms this leads to. the more important question is, when does personhood begin? ie when does a lump of human cells get what rights? clearly it doesn't get the privilege of driving until it's 16 years old or so. the right to legally get pissed until 21. etc. really the most important issue is at what point does its druggie slut of a host lose the right to kill it? this arguing about when life begins is a distraction. it begins at conception. sheehs. a much more productive discussion would be about the right to take that life. clearly we believe there are circumstances when it's right to take a life: war, defense of self, defense of others, capital crimes, etc. does elective pregnancy termination fall into this category? let's look at pets. you can kill an animal and eat it. but you can't kill a pet. what's the difference? well, in some law books the difference is a name. pets have a name. so i propose a fetus has a right to life when it gets a name. after you name it you can't kill it and eat it. course that leaves open a few things. like who gets to name it. and can i kill a 10 year old if i've never named him? hmm... that leads to some interesting possibilities for modifying the behavior of say teenagers.