🚀 go-pugleaf

REP wrote:
> 
> In article <327C1B55.2170@teleport.com>, Rob Hocker <rah@teleport.com> wrote:
> 
> [...]
> > It is a proven scientific fact that the fetus is living.  It is a
> > proven scientific fact that the fetus is human (i.e., it has a FULL
> > SET OF HUMAN DNA; the chemicals that DEFINE, scientifically, what
> > it means to be human).  The fetus is GROWING.  Left in it's natural
> > circumstances, it will continue to GROW bigger and bigger, until it
> > grows out of the womb, then out of the crib, then out of the home,
> > etc., etc., etc. Given these scientific FACTS, I think it is up to
> > you to somehow prove that this living, growing "thing" with human
> > DNA is not really human... its just er, uh, protoplasm! Yeah. That's
> > right!  It's protoplasm!  Sure it's pretty special protoplasm in
> > that it even can show personality traits in the womb BEFORE it
> > magically becomes HUMAN...  But it's protoplasm nonetheless!
> 
> Nice to see you've found a strawman to play with. I have uet to hear
> anyone claim that a human fetus is not human. What is disputed is whether
> or not it is a human being; a person. There is a difference.
>

And thus you bring up a spiritual argument.  The fetus is fully *human*
in the physical sense, but perhaps it doesn't have a soul or spirit
yet... thus it's not a person.  You can't put a person's spirit in a
test tube. (Indeed, some pure naturalists don't even believe in
spirit -- they would be forced to see personhood as the physical
structure.)  Anyway, once you bring in this "personhood" issue, it
gets very complex.  Why should a two or three year-old be considered
a "person"?  You can't measure their spirit any better than the spirit
of a fetus.  How about an old person?  Someone with Altheimer's, someone
who's mentally retarted, etc., etc.

I prefer to go by what can be measured and scientifically proven.

> > I addressed this in a previous post.  Sperm do not have a full
> > set of DNA; they are not human... [...]
> 
> If it originated in a human male,then it is human sperm.
> 

It's human sperm, but the sperm is not a human being.

Rob