@DogbiteWilliams
Age measures how long something has been in existence.
This is very rarely used as a sophisticated or nuanced argument for abortion. Most reasonable folks understand the process and the advent of better incubators has made premature births more possible, thus ‘age’ is more arbitrary.
I want to force one of these tyrranical "pro-life" (LOL) bastards to take a polygraph test with a shotgun pointed at his head. He should be totally aware that if the needle quivers more than minutely, the shotgun will automatically discharge. The question he will be forced to answer is, "Did you claim your child (or you yourself) was one year old three months after birth?"
Of course the correct answer is "No," because fetal life is not human life. Humans (like all mammals) breathe in air. Fetuses are incapable of breathing because their lungs are filled with fluid.
Why would you shoot someone because they used the accepted norm of aging someone that has gone through the birthing process? If you choose to include the entire process, for whatever reason, okay. But the doctor simply has always noted ‘exactly’ when he delivered the baby. He cannot always know when the ‘consummation’ was.
Then, especially in old times, more were stillborn, etc. So, really a now-fully healthy baby is when the aging has been considered successful started — but not that it was not an early stage person already — it simply was successfully delivered now.
If you use what we refer to as the SLED method the ‘L’ — Level of development —and the ‘E’ — Environment — address these issues adequately enough.
Level of Development is almost seen as a copout by scientists and philosophers alike.
Everyone acknowledges that there is a development process. Not having developed the ability to breath on its own does not change what it is and what is happening.
For example, an 8-year old girl cannot have a baby because her reproductive system is not developed. An 18-year old can have a baby because her reproductive system is fully developed. An 80-year old woman cannot have a baby because her reproductive system is now ‘undeveloped’.
We do not say that the 8 or 80-year olds have less qualifications for personhood. All three are just in different development stages or personhood.
The other part, the Environment part, people use to include location. Just because the fetus is not out on its own, they say it is not a human baby — or not yet.
The question is still how does your location affect your value as a human?
Scuba diver, spelunker, astronaut — how does location change your status?
So, simply being in the womb — another location — should not change a person’s value.
How would the journey through a 7-inch birth canal magically change your status from a value-less human into a valuable person? Nothing changed except the location.
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