Ind. Proposal: Life Starts at Conception

[deadparrot]

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana women seeking an abortion would be told life begins at conception under a proposal that would give the state one of the furthest-reaching abortion consent laws in the country.

Only one state — South Dakota — has gone so far in what it orders doctors to tell women before they can get abortions, and that law has been blocked by a court.

Supporters say the legislation would provide women key information before making an irreversible decision, but critics argue it blurs the line between church and state and could infringe on doctors' First Amendment rights.

"To put our religion or faithful beliefs into a statute that's going to be law, without being able to back it up scientifically, I have real hard questions about doing that," said Indiana Rep. John Ulmer, a Republican who voted against the bill.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_re_us/life_at_conception

[Bjornsdotter]

1. If it passes

...can a woman claim the fetus as a deduction on her Income Tax?

[hwmnbn]

3. Or drive in the carpool lane?.......

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

35. or legally drink 9 months shy of your 21st birthday.

nt.

[stevietheman]

2. It seems to me, science would suggest...

Life begins at first brain activity. As science defines death as the end of brain activity.

What is human life without brain activity?

[hwmnbn]

4. The technical name for that is......

conservative republican.

[stevietheman]

8. I'm afraid not. It's called "reason". n/t

n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. Because it's pretty clear where "brain activity" starts.

:eyes:

[hyphenate]

23. Well

I'm really not that sure about that. It seems to me that the Bush family hasn't had ANY brain activity at all, but they're considered "alive."

[0007]

29. ..but....but...

Isn't life about having an awareness of one's environment and one's own existence, such as sensations, and thoughts and memory?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

32. "Mommy's tummy is stroft."

Ah, memories.

[hwmnbn]

24. I should have made my post more clear.....

What is human life without brain activity?

conservative republican. (ta da boom rimshot)



In comedy, timing is everything. :cry:

[54anickel]

37. *SNARF*!!! eom

[Castilleja]

34. Is your sig pic the answer to your question?

It certainly could be!!

[FlaGranny]

5. That's wrong,

actually the sperm and the egg are BOTH quite alive. So life starts BEFORE conception. Who knows, maybe the egg and the sperm both have half a soul. Laws should be written to protect each and every sperm and egg even before they unite.

(Just in case you didn't realize it - the above is sarcasm.)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I was waiting for you to burst into song

You know, "Every Sperm Is Sacred" from Monty Python.

[lindisfarne]

14. We also need an "every egg is sacred" song ... Will women be required to

have sex every day while ovulating? Are anti-choice activists going to require this of every female once she starts menstruating? How far will they carry their agenda to ensure every "life" is protected?

[BiggJawn]

20. "Every Sperm is Great"

"And when a Sperm is wasted, the Indiana General Assembly gets QUITE Irate!"

[hwmnbn]

25. or.... Hit me with your best shot!!....

Fire awaaaaayy.

[FlaGranny]

36. Or - Woody Allen's

"Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex."

[donco6]

11. Actually, that has more biblical basis than other arguments.

Paul reasoned that all men inherit the penalty of the fall through their father, so it would be reasonable to say that all life originated in Adam - in essence, all sperm is tainted with sin and carried down through all generations.

Protect life! Outlaw masturbation!

[MatrixEscape]

17. Biblically,

and in the mystical tradition, even though the creation of Adam is non-procreational, Adam did not become a "living soul" until god breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, (he was clay at the time).

This is overlooked by religious factions pushing the political wedge-issue. You can argue with it, since it is the symbolic storytelling of ancient, spiritual thought, but the issue is often avoided and even ignored later-on in the bible. Just because god, "knew you in the womb" that does not override the requirement of the "breath of life" in order to have the status of living soul, versus dependent organism/fetus.

We can also question why the tradition of the “birthday” has held fast. If our personal lives begin at conception ... darn, we are all three months short of a year older, ey?

I would balance that with the idea of a respect for life and its potential. A fetus is certainly a potential human being, from there, one makes personal choices that are sacred to the individual/prospective parent. Someone who does not want to, or does not feel ready to, bring another person into the World, for various reasons, can be just as loving and compassionate as someone who is eager to do so.

With free-will, as is a theme of the spiritual con-game of, “You are born a sinner ... oh and WE have the solution, BTW!” there has to be the capacity to make choices, hence removing those choices and making the decision for other sinners seems antithetical to the proposition. To prevent those endowed with free will from choosing seems to be far more of a blasphemy than the meddling concerns about the choices made, in this case.

I can think of nothing worse than being an “unwanted” child and to choose without interference is more sacred than placing the fetus on a pedestal to worship.

[Ilsa]

26. So we should have a funeral every time a woman has a period?

Wow. Something else worthless for Rethuglicans to spend money on. I bet they'd all get into the funeral indistry first, though.

[lapfog_1]

31. Oh crap...

I've been committing billions of abortions routinely!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. One premise these legislators make that I feel is erronious

is that women who choose to terminate their pregnancy do it with thoughtless flippancy. If they have ever known a woman who was pregnant and found out that to carry the child to term would mean she might die, they would know how agonizing the situation is. If they have ever known a woman who realized that there was no way she could support a child, and saw no other way out than to terminate, they would be ashamed-ashamed for not being there for her, giving her family a decent living wage.

[rodeodance]

9. the strategy is to make them seen as little greedy women-which they are

percieved to be by those who want these bills anyway.

[kahleefornia]

10. my reply to "life starts at conception"

would be "OK, well it's gonna end at this clinic then. Thanks for the philosophy lesson."

I'm one of those extreme pro choicers. I don't really care if it's alive, human, has a soul, or what. If it's attached to my body, and I'd like it removed, that's my right. I'm not going to even argue about the definition of life.

[CTyankee]

13. But, but you could give it up for adoption!!!!

Look at all those women out there, longing to have a child. Don't you have any pity for them???

To which my answer would be: I am a woman, not a brood mare. Besides, if those women want a child so desperately, why don't they just adopt a nonwhite, disabled infant???

[bluestateguy]

16. I actually knew a kid in college who was pro-abortion

I'm not saying you are, but this guy's attitude was that if he got a girl pregnant he would FORCE her to have an abortion because he didn't want to be burdened with kids he didn't want. He also said that more abortions meant fewer people on welfare, which made his taxes go up. He was an extreme economic conservative.

[bluestateguy]

15. They could just wear an iPod during that part of the counseling

Doctor: I'm going to tell you something now that I am required to tell you by law, but you might want to put your iPod on while I tell it to you.

Woman: OK (puts iPod on).

Doctor: Bwamp, bwa, bwamp, bwaaa.....................................

[Joanne98]

18. I heard the Torah saz it's day 40! Is that true?

[tishaLA]

33. Sorta. The Torah says that before 40 days

the fetus is mere water. But Jewish tradition generlly holds that life begins at birth.

[Robb]

19. Indiana: First in Theocracy

...or was it "In God We Trust"? Dang license plates, I can never remember. :eyes:

[SoCalDem]

21. Knock..Knock..Knock...

"Who is it?..."

"It's the Ovulation Police, Ma'am...
We're here to 'check you'..

Well..well..well.. It appears that last night, you put a "bun in the oven", so we'll have to hook you up to the "fetus-alert monitor"..


If at any time during the next nine months, the monitor stops sending information back to HQ, you'll be arrested and charged with fetucide:)

Have a Nice day !"

[Iris]

22. This makes my ovaries hurt.

:-(

[Gelliebeans]

27. Thats it

I am throwing all my eggs out!

[ck4829]

28. And ends at birth?

[Daphne08]

30. I'm pro-life, but I don't feel that I should dictate that belief to

anyone else.

What I really resent are these fundies who only appear to care about a human being before he or she is born.

We should make certain all children in our nation are well-fed and well-educated... or we will all lose. Radical idea, huh? :sarcasm:

[nodehopper]

39. then I would say you are pro-choice

as I understand it pro-choice means everyone gets to choose what they want to do. you would not choose an abortion, but you are for other people's choice to do otherwise.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

38. "Faith-Based Legislation"

What really galls me about this legislation, as well as other anti-abortion legislation currently being proposed here in Indiana is that there is no MEDICAL or SCIENTIFIC evidence for this claim nor was there any medical or scientific testimony requested or heard prior to the passage of another recent proposed law requiring doctors to inform women that a fetus may feel pain during an abortion and asking women if they want an anesthetic (for the fetus). Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "faith-based legislation at its finest!";-)