{"id":317,"date":"2013-03-29T10:22:45","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T15:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/?p=317"},"modified":"2015-05-01T15:51:04","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T20:51:04","slug":"life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/29\/life\/","title":{"rendered":"Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love the arguments of &#8220;Life begins at conception&#8221; so we can&#8217;t allow abortion. It&#8217;s a really great argument, except for the fact that it is completely false. A good friend of mine reminded me of a statement that Carl Sagan had regarding abortion:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>&#8220;Despite many claims to the contrary, life does not begin at conception: It is an unbroken chain that stretches back nearly to the origin of the Earth, 4.6 billion years ago. Nor does human life begin at conception: It is an unbroken chain dating back to the origin of our species, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Every human sperm and egg is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, alive. They are not human beings, of course. However, it could be argued that neither is a fertilized egg.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> In some animals, an egg develops into a healthy adult without benefit of a sperm cell. But not, so far as we know, among humans. A sperm and an unfertilized egg jointly comprise the full genetic blueprint for a human being. Under certain circumstances, after fertilization, they can develop into a baby. But most fertilized eggs are spontaneously miscarried. Development into a baby is by no means guaranteed. Neither a sperm and egg separately, nor a fertilized egg, is more than a potential baby or a potential adult. So if a sperm and egg are as human as the fertilized egg produced by their union, and if it is murder to destroy a fertilized egg&#8211;despite the fact that it&#8217;s only potentially a baby&#8211;why isn&#8217;t it murder to destroy a sperm or an egg?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The conversation came up in response to a discussion regarding someone who has used in-vitro fertilization to conceive, but is anti-abortion. For those that are unaware, the process of in-vitro fertilization includes the death of many embryos in an attempt to allow fertilization. In essence &#8220;abortion&#8221; according to the definition of many Pro-Live advocates. The response to this being pointed out was a statement &#8220;I believe life starts when an embryo is implanted in a uterine wall&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>As Carl Sagan pointed out so eloquently, Sperm and Egg cells are alive (as are most socks). They are living, so is a fertilized egg. It makes no sense to condemn a person for having an abortion based on the assumption that life begins at &#8220;fertilization&#8221; or &#8220;implantation&#8221; or even when a heartbeat can be determined. Perhaps a more logical assertion is at viability. Either way, what do you do if a fetus is found to be so horribly malformed that there is zero chance for it to be viable? Do you force a woman to have a stillborn child? Why does your Judeo-Christian definition trump common sense (It&#8217;s practically unheard of), free will, and science? Do we accuse someone who kills a spider to be a murderer (or a hero)? Perhaps that particular spider would sire a line of spiders that would go on to evolve into sentient life (or at least become a reality TV star). Perhaps this is a decision between the parents, or a decision that a woman must make on her own. To accuse someone of committing murder for aborting a non-viable fetus is the equivalent of accusing a man of committing genocide for masturbating; or accusing a woman of committing murder every time she goes through her menstrual cycle.<\/p>\n<p>What should be the punishment for these acts? Have you thought this through? How do you prosecute a woman who has been raped and decides to have an illegal abortion?<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/if-youre-holding-a-sign-with-an-aborted-fetus-on-it-you-better-be-able-to-answer?c=ufb1\">http:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/if-youre-holding-a-sign-with-an-aborted-fetus-on-it-you-better-be-able-to-answer?c=ufb1<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"321\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/29\/life\/sperm\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?fit=403%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"403,400\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"sperm\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?fit=300%2C297&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?fit=403%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-321\" alt=\"sperm\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?resize=403%2C400\" width=\"403\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?w=403&amp;ssl=1 403w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?resize=300%2C297&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sperm.jpg?resize=302%2C300&amp;ssl=1 302w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Remember, every sperm is sacred.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ptTwi6-ii-s\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ptTwi6-ii-s<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love the arguments of &#8220;Life begins at conception&#8221; so we can&#8217;t allow abortion. It&#8217;s a really great argument, except for the fact that it is completely false. A good friend of mine reminded me of a statement that Carl Sagan had regarding abortion: &#8220;Despite many claims to the contrary, life does not begin at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-rants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s25aXt-life","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}