You replied to this with a hypothetical about landmines while ignoring that this comment is talking about the right of the mother to bodily autonomy vs. the rights of a potential person to life.
That hypothetical was to show that we do concern ourselves with the consequences of our actions, even if those consequences affect people who have not yet been born. And it’s true. We do this. So saying “the zygote hasn’t been born-- it doesn’t matter what happens to it” (paraphrasing) is not a given statement-- it must be shown why we shouldn’t care about what happens to it, when we do care about unborn or future people in other instances.
you’re basically saying you’re not pro-choice if you believe a zygote has the same right to life that a mother has to bodily autonomy.
This can’t be further from the truth. We make nuanced decisions about this all the time-- you’re not allowed to kill someone, but if they’re trying to kill you, you are then allowed to kill them to defend yourself. A person that punches a pregnant person in the stomach and causes them to miscarry can be charged with murder. It doesn’t matter if the pregnant person was punched on the way to an abortion. The question isn’t really (and never should have been) whether a zygote has rights. The question is defending why a pregnant person’s rights should supersede the rights of the zygote.
I’ll flip it to help you out.
Why does a zygote’s rights supercede the rights of a rape victim?
I don’t think a zygotes rights supersede the rights of any pregnant person. I’m pro choice with no qualifiers.
Actually nm I got what you’re saying. Just that it needs to be a conversation and I think most of us agree it’s just such a defensive issue right now.
Both have rights. We favor the mom 100% until 16 weeks (or did). Then still the mom if things get complicated.
I did find the original zygote comment pretty bad too btw.
It sounds like you’re taking the pregnant person out of the equation as a thought experiment and then stating that this clump of cells that has the potential to become a person should have rights of its own. Even then it’s a little hard to argue since “potential” is abstract. And what is the value of potential? It’s human, so does that give it rights? Does it get rights as soon as an egg is fertilized? Or does its rights grow as it starts getting more human-like? Why should this clump of cells have more rights than, say, a full-fledged penguin? I don’t think this thought experiment is very useful to anyone without a religious belief in the specialness of human embryos.
Go reread the last sentence of your last post.
I moved two concepts and gave your argument back to you so you can hopefully see what position you’re arguing.
Ahh, nm. I see the point you’re making. Yes, zygotes should have rights. But the mom’s come first. We do agree.
Yeah, 16 weeks seemed a good place to draw the line. With difficulties still leaning towards the mother.
