"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Hypotheticals for Liberals

Hypothetical 1:  A woman arrives at Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia abortion clinic.   She is 30 weeks pregnant.   She asks for an abortion.   Gosnell performs the abortion of the 30 week old "fetus" in utero by inserting scissors into the birth canal and snipping its spinal cord.   He then delivers the dead baby and discards the fetal remains in the clinic's dumpster.

Hypothetical 2:  A woman arrives at Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia abortion clinic. She is 30 weeks pregnant. She asks for an abortion.   Gosnell performs the abortion of the 30 week old "fetus" by inducing labor and then, once the live baby is born, killing him or her by snipping the spinal cord.   He then discards the "fetal remains" in the clinic's dumpster.

Hypothetical 3:  A woman arrives at Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia abortion clinic. She is 30 weeks pregnant. She asks for an abortion.   Gosnell induces labor and then, once the live baby is born, the mother decides she wants him or her.   The mother takes the baby home.   Once she gets home, the mother reconsiders, and kills her own baby by snipping the spinal cord.   She then returns to the clinic and discards the "fetal remains" in its dumpster.  

Write a three-paragraph essay describing your reasoning why some or all of these situations are or are not murder.   Does the location of the killing matter?   Does the identity of the killer matter?   If so, why?

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