Is it ok to kill a newborn?

[mj.scuba]

Personally I dislike it immensely, but I wouldn't limit the choice that a person makes. I think aborting a pregnancy because it is a girl, and I'd take that further to aborting a pregnancy because they are twins (which is a little less common); these are not great reasons to do so.

 

That doesn't weaken the pro-choice argument though. A woman's body is her own and if she doesn't wish to carry a pregnancy to full term it is not the state's place to force her to do so.

 

Why is it the place of the state to provide a medical service for what is often non-medical reasons?

[Chris_Sleeps]

Why is it the place of the state to provide a medical service for what is often non-medical reasons?

It's the job of the state to pick up the tab of backstreet abortion, so there is an argument for doing it safely and cleanly in the first place.

 

Secondly, there are other non-medical treatments that the NHS provides. Why is abortion any different to having one's ears pinned back, for example?

 

The final conclusive case is that an abortion is cheaper than putting an unwanted child through the care system and into adoption.

[mj.scuba]

"Subject to the provisions of this section, a person shall not be guilty of an offence under the law relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical practitioner if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith -

 

(a) that the pregnancy has not exceeded its 24th week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family; or

 

(b) that the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; or

 

© that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or

 

(d) that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped."

 

I think the law has it right, but the way it is being applied by practitioners goes beyond the scope of the law, resulting in de facto abortion on demand, which is clearly not the intention of the law as above.

[Frank Sidney]

I presume you are ok with abortion based on the sex of the unborn child then?

 

If anything I'm anti abortion, in some circumstances....I was just saying the woman has to have the choice..

 

I admit you had me scratching my head for a while with that one though..

[Plain Talker]

I presume you are ok with abortion based on the sex of the unborn child then?

 

If it is to do with a sex-linked condition such as Muscular Dystrophy then yes. If it's just "I don't want a boy" then no, but I can't legislate for a person lying about the reason. That's why two independent doctors have to agree that the woman can have a termination, before she can access it.

[Bloomdido]

As there were intentional killings of people of any age. In London's east end many infants diied from criminal neglect caused by drunken parents or malnutrition or exposure to filthy conditions. Those could not be called intentional killings however.

 

Children born into better circumstances frequently died from the major infant killer menangitis.

 

For more insight read Jack London's "Children of the Abyss"

 

I will get hold of a copy. Thanks.

[janie48]

To give birth to a disabled child must be devastating for the mother,and can hardly be imagined unless you have been in that position.Yet many parents come to terms with it,and manage to provide a happy and fullfilled life for the child. I know a woman who has three children,she says the two able-bodied chidren are more trouble then her disabled daughter.They are a very happy family.

 

I mention this because it does seem to still be the case that a big part of society looks down on disability and sees those individuals as less equel then the able bodied as if there lives have no meaning and they are of no value to society when in fact so many of them grow into adult life and are in occupations that contribute as much (if not more in some cases) then the able bodied.

 

There are some disabled groups who have voiced their concerns about public attitudes towards them. They feel stigmatized for all kinds of reasons,but especially when views appear to imply that they should never have been born!! These concerns they have are directed even towards some members of the medical profession.

 

That article written by Dr Minerva in the link provided by the op is quite disturbing to read and i do think that the opinion she holds is bordering on eugenics, which i believe was an idea first considered as a plan to improve the economy.

[Harleyman]

To give birth to a disabled child must be devastating for the mother,and can hardly be imagined unless you have been in that position.Yet many parents come to terms with it,and manage to provide a happy and fullfilled life for the child. I know a woman who has three children,she says the two able-bodied chidren are more trouble then her disabled daughter.They are a very happy family.

 

I mention this because it does seem to still be the case that a big part of society looks down on disability and sees those individuals as less equel then the able bodied as if there lives have no meaning and they are of no value to society when in fact so many of them grow into adult life and are in occupations that contribute as much (if not more in some cases) then the able bodied.

 

There are some disabled groups who have voiced their concerns about public attitudes towards them. They feel stigmatized for all kinds of reasons,but especially when views appear to imply that they should never have been born!! These concerns they have are directed even towards some members of the medical profession.

 

That article written by Dr Minerva in the link provided by the op is quite disturbing to read and i do think that the opinion she holds is bordering on eugenics, which i believe was an idea first considered as a plan to improve the economy.

 

Charles Darwin was a proponent of eugenics.

[Phanerothyme]

That article written by Dr Minerva in the link provided by the op is quite disturbing to read and i do think that the opinion she holds is bordering on eugenics, which i believe was an idea first considered as a plan to improve the economy.

 

 

No, Eugenics is what the European Royal Families tried to do for four centuries, and what the Spartans did with their infants.

[Suffragette1]

To give birth to a disabled child must be devastating for the mother,and can hardly be imagined unless you have been in that position.Yet many parents come to terms with it,and manage to provide a happy and fullfilled life for the child. I know a woman who has three children,she says the two able-bodied chidren are more trouble then her disabled daughter.They are a very happy family.

 

I mention this because it does seem to still be the case that a big part of society looks down on disability and sees those individuals as less equel then the able bodied as if there lives have no meaning and they are of no value to society when in fact so many of them grow into adult life and are in occupations that contribute as much (if not more in some cases) then the able bodied.

 

There are some disabled groups who have voiced their concerns about public attitudes towards them. They feel stigmatized for all kinds of reasons,but especially when views appear to imply that they should never have been born!! These concerns they have are directed even towards some members of the medical profession.

 

That article written by Dr Minerva in the link provided by the op is quite disturbing to read and i do think that the opinion she holds is bordering on eugenics, which i believe was an idea first considered as a plan to improve the economy.

 

I know plenty of families whose lives have been devastated by having a child with disabilities. The other siblings barely get a look in, understandably, as the child with disabilities needs more time and attention, it totally alters the family dynamic. Factor into that endless hospital appointments, the worry and angst about what will happen to the said child when the parents die, who will care for him/her? I would not choose to have that happen, I had every ante-natal test available to me at the time and would have terminated had anything shown up. If that makes me a terrible person, then so be it.