Re: the September 12 article “To curb abortions, support women at work, in their lives.”
As a firm believer that a well-thought-out philosophy is vital in our troubled world, I find the flippant statement “the fetus and the embryo are separate entities from the pregnant woman” lacks an objective basis. This dichotomous point of view, largely non-secular and taken for granted and absolute, is squarely at the root of the abortion conflict. We can consider as a “biological fact” that each living being is the terminus of a long chain of transfer of life coming from a common origin, revealing that other than this origin, strictly speaking, life does not begin but only ends. Defining pregnancy as two distinct entities necessarily appears arbitrary in this context. Philosophical honesty demands that we concede that the human condition, especially that distinctly feminine phenomenon which unifies and advances this condition, is not predefined. Just as all of humanity can be seen as a unit, so too can a pregnancy. To paraphrase a famous sentiment, we are doomed to choose. Should we not, in addition, be free to do so?
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
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