Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ames.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!ames!barry From: barry@ames.UUCP (Ken Barry) Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: Inconsistency in Right-to-life position? Message-ID: <476@ames.UUCP> Date: Wed, 15-Aug-84 04:23:38 EDT Article-I.D.: ames.476 Posted: Wed Aug 15 04:23:38 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 16-Aug-84 03:48:53 EDT Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA Lines: 30 [<+>] In my reading of articles on the net from those who oppose abortion I have noticed what appears to me to be an inconsistency in their position. I would appreciate seeing some comments from anyone who agrees with both of the following two statements: 1) Abortion is wrong because a fetus is a human being, and aborting a fetus is therefore murder. 2) Abortion is permissable if the pregnancy was the result of a rape. My impression is that there are a number of people out there who would agree with both these statements, but to me they seem contradictory. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, how is it that rape makes murder OK? Granted that an abortion may lessen the suffering of the rape victim, I fail to see how that can be adequate justification for an act of murder. If killing a fetus is morally equivalent to killing any other human being, it seems that the matter of rape is irrelevant. The fetus, after all, was not the guilty party, nor can an abortion erase the fact of the rape. Do two wrongs make a right? Since my own position is pro-choice, my concern with this question is intellectual rather than personal, but I would still appreciate some enlightenment. - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Electric Avenue: {dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames!barry