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I'm an interested Visionaire, as well as a friend of Nick Gier's; my answer to his question is that killing what's pictured may or may not -- but probably not -- be murder, but is the taking of a human life.<br><br>I've exhausted myself and likely all of you trying to explain the role of intent, motive, context and law in asserting the possibility of the non-murderous taking of human life, and, without having read the entire legislation, I think it's a good idea to have women see an ultrasound and receive RELIABLE information about the contents of her uterus post-conception and pre-natally. I reject the idea that pictures of dismembered fetuses and hysterical insults and judgment are part of educating women, and so while I don't think it's ever right to say the fetus can play the piano, mentioning that she has developed, discrete fingers seems appropriate.<br><br>I would also note that very few women would choose, say, infant circumcision for their sons if they were shown pictures of the procedure, but that most feel more comfortable once they realize what the, ummm, end product looks like. I don't mean to trivialize abortion, only to suggest that there's an inherent repugnance we experience when we see surgical procedures, and a better way to educate all medical consumers, and especially pregnant women, is not to focus on how ugly the procedure looks, but on its effect on the patient. Obviously the effect here is life-ending. Some will still choose abortion, and the women I know who have are in no way, nor were they ever, murderers. They were terrified, alone, and without apparent options. Were their cases ever adjudicated, I can think of a number of parties at least as morally culpable as the woman, and of no woman who deserves legal prosecution for making a choice far more difficult than most of us ever have.<br><br>And to my off-list correspondent who keeps asking: Stop it. Whether I had or had not, I certainly wouldn't discuss it with you. I am more than capable of arguing a position based on factors other than the experiential. <br><br>keely<br><br><blockquote style="border-left: #008080 2px solid; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;"><hr>Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 09:24:10 -0800<br>From: ngier@uidaho.edu<br>To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>Subject: [Vision2020] New Idaho law regarding abortion<br><br>
Greetings:<br><br>
Regarding the new Idaho law that requires pregnant women to view pictures
of their fetus before going ahead with an abortion, I would like for all
interested visionaries to view the image at
<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/fetus.htm" target="_blank">
www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/fetus.htm</a> and answer the question
"Would killing this being be murder?"<br><br>
I eagerly await your Yes or No answer.<br><br>
Nick Gier<br>
<font size="2">"Truth is the summit of being; justice is the
application of it to human affairs."<br>
--Ralph Waldo Emerson<br><br>
"Abstract truth has no value unless it incarnates in human beings
who represent it, by proving their readiness to die for it."<br>
--Mohandas Gandhi<br><br>
"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system cannot
be discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each
part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole and on
the interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our
intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between science,
religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its
various parts." --Ma</font><font size="1">x Planck<br><br>
</font>Nicholas F. Gier<br>
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho<br>
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843<br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/%7Enickgier/home.htm" target="_blank">
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm<br>
</a>208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950<br>
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO<br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/%7Enickgier/ift.htm" target="_blank">
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm<br><br>
</a>
<BR></blockquote><br /><hr />Your friends are close to you. <a href='http://spaces.live.com/signup.aspx
' target='_new'>Keep them that way.</a></body>
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