re: #654 jamesfirecat

the procedure can happen as soon as she wants it to happen

What if it takes longer to get the kid out of her live than dead? Is it OK to kill my friend’s 38-week son simply so she isn’t forced to let him keep using her kidneys through the process of labor?

I’m not trying to be a jackass here (and you should be ashamed that you are. Seriously… “Lothar Bat”? Downding for namecalling.) I’m just trying to identify what I see as a weakness in your argument.

You’ve argued that her organs CANNOT be used against her will. But you offered a compromise in which they would be for a short period of time, which you retracted when you were unable to offer a principled reason not to extend the compromise further. I’m trying to probe that. Why would it be OK to compromise through labor, but not longer?

If people were formed plant-style as in 573 (which I read but found unconvincing), what would you think of a person returning from vacation and finding a nearly-developed plant-person, hours from being able to leave, and killing them? Would that be a reasonable response? Or would it be more reasonable to say that once it’s grown that far, it should have the right to finish the process?

You could argue, as others have, that in the early implantation stages a human embryo and/or plant person is not worthy of protection. You could argue that until it reaches some particular level of development, it is not deserving of any protection.

But the particular argument that “it has no right to use your stuff so you can kill it” is weaksauce. If someone uses my bike without permission (ie, steals it) I don’t have the right to kill him. If someone is in my house without permission, I might have the right to kill him IF I have reason to believe he constitutes a threat. If someone is using my organs without my permission… it’s not self-evident (as you seem to believe) that I should have the right to kill him in order to get them back. If a parasite is using my organs, sure, but if it’s a human being, the question isn’t so easy to answer.