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  • TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18 2007 4:00 PM

And So Shines a Good Deed in a Weary World



When does life begin: with the chicken, or the egg?

A judge in New Jersey has a moment of sanity.

"On the profound issue of when life begins, this court cannot drive public policy in one particular direction by the engine of the common law when the opposing sides, which represent so many of our citizens, are arrayed along a deep societal and philosophical divide," Justice Barry T. Albin wrote for New Jersey's highest court.

The decision, citing past rulings, said the court "will not place a duty on doctors when there is no consensus in the medical community or among the public" on when life begins.


I am sorry for the woman in the case, and if her doctor actually said to her "don't be stupid" her doctor is an asshole. But it is up to her, not her doctor--and sure as shit not a judge--to decide if a six-week old fetus is a "baby" or not.

As it should be for every pregnant woman at every stage of pregnancy.

Bitch_PhD nominates Justice Albin for the SCOTUS.

 

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The_Reverend

The_Reverend

United Kingdom
September 2004

SEP 18, 2007 05:13 PM

Good call.

shapeshifter23

shapeshifter23

San Francisco, CA
September 2005

SEP 18, 2007 05:38 PM

There was a starfish
Then there was five
She thought she did good
Coming from arkansas

Militant pro-lifer
Killing a soul
Who just wanted
To give a starfish

To her grandma
To her father
To her cousin
And her best friend
To her mother

You are bad, you are bad, you are bad
Were the words she heard
Those were the words she'll remember
About their trip to jamaica

So, what you gonna do
With that pro-lifer
There was a starfish
Then there was five

You were right, you were right, you were right
We all know you were so right, you were so right
It doesn't matter
'Cause she doesn't know why not

Kill more starfish
Kill more starfish
Kill more starfish
Kill more starfish
Kill more starfish

- Lisa Germano ("Starfish")

makebelieve

makebelieve

Clemmons, NC
February 2007

SEP 18, 2007 05:48 PM

Yeah I'll decide for ya the "fetus" is a "baby" assholes.

Each individual person shouldn't be allowed to decide for themselves whether their unborn "baby" is a child or a thing. That should have a fucking definition. Stop walking around on eggshells and make up your goddamn minds! If you're gonna kill a fetus at least let the world know if you're killing a human or a "thing". Jesus.

helloreegan84

helloreegan84

Las Cruces, NM
September 2007

SEP 18, 2007 07:25 PM

It's funny because most of my friends who got pregnant decided that thier fetus was definatley a life, and they have become a little more pro-lifey (although none of my friends are actually pro-life, they started saying "oh women should have that choice, but I would NEVER do it) whereas when I got pregnant I really went the opposite direction. I really feel like a fetus that could not survive outside the mothers womb is more like a body organ that a person. The potential for life rather than actual life. I definatley became more pro-choicey. Its funny how people have no concept of the very unique individual aspects of pregnancy and think they should be able stick every woman in the same tidy little group.. It only gets worse after you actually have the baby, but thats a whole diffrent tangent, don't even get me started... whatever

Shal

Shal

Los Angeles, CA
October 2002

SEP 18, 2007 07:30 PM

superkrzyamos said:
Yeah I'll decide for ya



And therein lies the problem.

Azkadellia

Azkadellia

South Haven, MI
April 2007

SEP 18, 2007 07:42 PM

Shalome said:

superkrzyamos said:
Yeah I'll decide for ya



And therein lies the problem.



+ a billion

CategoryError

CategoryError

Delta, BC
September 2006

SEP 18, 2007 08:00 PM

man, how did people answer unanswerable questions before assholes came along?


RabidRousseau

RabidRousseau

USA
September 2007

SEP 18, 2007 08:04 PM

This news makes me so happy!

RabidRousseau

RabidRousseau

USA
September 2007

SEP 18, 2007 08:04 PM

sorry, double post

emperorreagan

emperorreagan

Baltimore, MD
January 2004

SEP 18, 2007 08:10 PM

I expect my doctor to be able to answer all of my philsophical inquiries for me, otherwise I plan to sue them for malpractice.

triskadekafobic

triskadekafobic

Germany
April 2006

SEP 18, 2007 08:41 PM

I always figured I'd be more apt to go with the pro-choice crowd if the Gov't didn't always charge someone with a double homicide for killing a pregnant woman and her unborn 6 week old fetus/child.

I'm not defending the murderers at all, but an old friend of mine was a huge advocate of pro-choice, and would be the first to shout "fry the bastard" in the case of a double homicide like I described above. I called her on it one day and all that she could come up with is that I was defending a murderer.

legionnaire

legionnaire

Belgium
November 2003

SEP 18, 2007 09:28 PM

The question of "when does life begin" is, itself, the wrong question.

Life doesn't end or begin when a sperm and an egg combine to form a zygote. A sperm and an egg are alive as well, they're just the haploid phase of the human life cycle. Since the vast majority of our lives are spent in the diploid phase, in our typical egoism we just assume that any other way of being alive isn't being alive at all. Other organisms divide their time more equally in haploid, diploid and sometimes even tetraploid phases of life - for those types of organisms, suggesting that it is only "alive" in one of those phases would seem ridiculous.

A better questions is: can we draw a consensus as to when it is and is not acceptable for a mother to terminate her pregnancy? At least that doesn't pussyfoot around what is clearly an ethical issue by somehow clouding it in mysticism and claiming that science and philosophy are insufficient to answer it.

Tinyhobo

Tinyhobo

Boulder City, NV
December 2006

SEP 18, 2007 09:44 PM

superkrzyamos said:
Yeah I'll decide for ya the "fetus" is a "baby" assholes.

Each individual person shouldn't be allowed to decide for themselves whether their unborn "baby" is a child or a thing. That should have a fucking definition. Stop walking around on eggshells and make up your goddamn minds! If you're gonna kill a fetus at least let the world know if you're killing a human or a "thing". Jesus.



Do me a favor, write something coherent before you decide for me.

helloreegan84

helloreegan84

Las Cruces, NM
September 2007

SEP 18, 2007 10:02 PM

triskaidekafobic said:
I always figured I'd be more apt to go with the pro-choice crowd if the Gov't didn't always charge someone with a double homicide for killing a pregnant woman and her unborn 6 week old fetus/child.

I'm not defending the murderers at all, but an old friend of mine was a huge advocate of pro-choice, and would be the first to shout "fry the bastard" in the case of a double homicide like I described above. I called her on it one day and all that she could come up with is that I was defending a murderer.


its funny because there is this kind of hypocrisy from both sides of the issue. i always like to callout "pro-lifers" who support the war in Iraq and the death penalty. i babble about this for pages, but i wont

PapaSpank

PapaSpank

Vancouver, BC
June 2003

SEP 18, 2007 10:24 PM

haha. sweet. are these the same 'pro-lifers' who eat other living beings? 'Great table topic dear', said the pro-lifer to his wife, 'now could you please pass the chicken'...

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