When does one gain person-hood?

What is this "we"? A pregnant woman is singular. One woman, two choices. If a pregnant woman does err, it is not YOUR error, so just butt out.

 

Neither have you. And this doesn't even make sense. By your own admission here, you are now acknowledging that choosing a threshold is completely arbitrary.

 

I make no such acknowledgment. If one does give a threshold then it should be justified.

I do not make the claim that conception is such a threshold. If you wish to make this claim then support it.

Threshold such as having significant brain function or a hearbeat are not arbitrary.

It is pretty hard to say something is a living human without either.

No hearbeat .. no brain function = a dead human.

 

Oh is that the threshold? show me where any laws says that!

The reality is that the thresold is a specific point in time. All human beings to not develope at precisely the same rate, so this makes the threshold OBVIOUSLY arbitrary!!!

This is scientifically stupid, as all scientific texts would agree that a fetus is alive before the brain develops. I am surprised a self professed science junkie would post such a peice of tripe with NO sceintific support whatsoever.

 

Come on now, you know very well that I have. A "person" is a "human being", and taht word does not indicate anything beyond that. There is no rational reason to think that a human being isn't a human being in his or her earliest growth stages, and many laws actually reflect this currently.

 

Any natural born citizen is entitled to person-hood in our republic. Anything before that should be up to morals and ethics.

 

This is nonsense. A person is an organism with human DNA. Nothing more. That is why you cannot kill at will someone who is in a coma.

 

Well, the whole argument of person hood is a bit much. I am not quite sure why the egg should be granted any sort of rights at the moment of fertilization.

Its just a group of cells, no conscienceless what so ever to speak of. The mother, having a developed nervous system should probably have the right to choose to follow through with the pregnancy.

However, as the pregnancy progresses, the issue gets stickier.

 

So you support age discrimination? That is interesting, unconstitutional, but interesting.

 

I agree, unconstitutional in the same sense that we do not allow a zygote to drive, vote, or buy alcohol.

 

So you beleive driving is a right? That says a lot.

 

A sperm is an organism with human DNA, but it is not a person. A person has agency. Someone in a coma can be killed very easily.

 

You must have missed the bit about voting. Your one sentence replies leave a lot to be desired.

 

Well of course you are wrong, so there ya go. A sperm is not an organism.

NEXT!!!

 

Gain "personhood"? Aren't you really asking when does a person gain personhood? Don't you see how ludicrous the whole "personhood" debate is?
A human organism is a "person", end of story.

 

A fictional story.

 

You did, actually. You said this....

If there are "many meaningful thresholds" then the one you've chosen (brain function and heartbeat) is not significant. It holds no more weight than any of the others.

 

Why would you look to the law for scientific answers ?

Cells in a dead person live for days after death. The fetus is alive in this way perhaps .. but no living human exists as per a coroners definition.

 

Say what ?

I did not decide that a human with no hearbeat is dead.
I did not decide that a human with no significant brainfunction is dead.

Different experts have different opinions. This does not make them all insignificant. The consensus, at least for coroners is given above.

You are not obliged to accept this definition. History may in fact prove this definition wrong.

If you want to claim the fetus is "a living human" you can come up with your own definition or accept anothers.

The problem with most anti-choice folks is that they do not have a definition to begin with.

 

Your ignoring the definition does not indicate that there isn't one.

 

Not nearly as much as when you declared that voting is a privilege not a right.

 

So is driving a right?

 

How is that related to giving personhood to a cell?

 

Read the thread.

 

Only if voting is a privilege.