You say, but Jim, it’s not a PERSON it’s a FETUS.
(Fetus is Latin for “Little One”).
If I call it a “Little One” instead of a “Person” has it then lost Person-hood?
If I call a “Flower” a “Rose” does it stop being a flower?
If a “Little One” is not a “Person” the when does a “Little One” become a “Person?”
The Law says “at birth.”
What if the Laws of men change, does a “Little One’s” person-hood change?
And if person-hood changes as man’s laws change what about those affected by the previous definition of person-hood? Can we bring them back from the dead?
When does a “Little One” become a “Person?”
When it is able to live outside the womb?
Technology is always changing, does person-hood change with technology?
When does a “Little One” become a “Person?”
When it has a heart-beat?
That is, quite possibly, less than 3 weeks after fertilization (1).
Or, does a “Little One” become a person when it has brain waves?
Or, expresses pain?
Or, expresses “the right kind of” pain?
No.
Person-hood is intrinsic not circumstantial.
What is the real issue?
The real issue is not denying a fetus is a child to alleviate guilt. The real issue is: is the child wanted? Those whose mind’s left say: If you don’t want it – Kill it. There is no one willing to help you. There is no other alternative. Carrying your baby takes money you don’t have, giving birth at a hospital even more so. Adoptions are horrific, foster care is worse. Killing your baby is the best thing you can do for it.
Those whose thinking is right however know that crisis pregnancy centers will help you financially, emotionally and spiritually. Loving people are waiting to adopt your baby. Adoption and foster care can be a loving alternative when you can’t raise your baby yourself.
Adoption and Foster care horror stories do exist unfortunately. They are the stories that get attention. Adoption and Foster care can be tough for both adoptee and adopter and Foster kids and Foster parents. But millions of kids and their new parents are successful. Those whose mind’s left don’t put the success stories (millions of them) on the evening news usually. But they are real. And your child can be one of them.
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(1) Now, a team funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) at the University of Oxford has demonstrated earlier beating of the heart in mouse embryos which, if extrapolated to the human heart, suggests beating as early as 16 days after conception.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-10-11-first-our-three-billion-heartbeats-sooner-we-thought
I AM for You! 