Dawn Eden points out that Planned Parenthood has helpfully defined when a person begins.
Q: My friend says that life begins when the egg and sperm join together. I say that it begins when a baby takes its first breath. Which of us is right?
"Most medical authorities and Planned Parenthood agree that it starts when a baby takes its first breath." [Source]
I guess once outside air is introduced into the babies respiration system it must mix with another component and personhood is spontaneously created. This works kind of like what occurs in a binary chemical weapon. This also means that if you gag the baby as it is born you can still kill it because personhood hasn’t occurred yet. Why go through the mess of partial-birth abortion when you can just strangle it before it takes its first breath.
Now we just need to know when rationality begins in a Planned Parenthood representative. Unfortunately there is not a known sample group on which to be able to do a scientifically measured study of.
If you want to read a truly sane explanation of when personhood begins read Peter Kreeft’s Human Personhood begins at Conception
13 comments
In your quote, I don’t see any mention of air. As far as i understand, the lungs are working within weeks of conception. The “air” just has a different density.
With senseless reasoning, maybe personhood really starts at the voting age?
After years of studying the Left, it is my considered opinion that life begins only when one joins Planned Parenthood, votes strictly Democratic, names something dear after Peter Singer, maintains the highest Clintonian ethics, practices the international politics of James Earl Carter, has a library full of Whoopie Goldberg classic films, possesses the well-developed memory of John Kerry, treats the opposite gender with the same kinds of affection as Edward Kennedy, and has attained the intellectual and artistic levels of Ward Churchill.
It would seem that, if you could arrange for a baby to be born into an airtight, sealed area in which the vital element has been removed from the atmosphere, you might possibly be able to raise it to voting age without personhood ever setting in.
Sort of like those “boy in the plastic bubble movies,” only moreso.
“Most medical authorities and Planned Parenthood agree that it starts when a baby takes its first breath.”
It is clear that planned parenthood mixed every thing : what most medical authorities agree about isthe fact that life end with the last breath ….
Crazy! I just wrote my philosophy final paper on this very topic, citing Peter Kreeft as my main source. I turned it in this morning – the timing is simply uncanny.
As it was a position paper, there was an opposing side – and upon presentation of our papers to the class, you can just bet on whose reason, rationality and obvious logic pervaded all uncertainties. It was me, and my two group members. The opposing side had nothing. When it came time to challenge their views, it was nearly impossible to work up a point that hadn’t already been *accidentally* argued in their self-defeating reason. Circular arguments can be quite humorous and are always terribly sad…
However, I am still in awe that you posted this today! :-O
Angela gets an A+ from Teresa! But you all forgot that sterling candidate, Wesley Clark, who said, “Life begins when a woman says it begins.” Translation: approx. 50% of the population gets to be a dictator! I defer my authority to a higher one, thanks Wesley.
*phew* Thank goodness they cleared that up ’cause the little stirrings in my belly were starting to tell me otherwise.
I think the Wesley Clark quote was:
“Life begins with a woman’s decision.”
Not to diss my own intrinsic feminine p0w3r or anything, but…life begins with a sperm and egg collision.
(I know, not technically a collision, but I was trying to save the rhyme….)
I left my comment on Dawn’s site. Tell me, though, is there any way we can think of to stamp out this idea that we shouldn’t legislate on the basis of religious principles? Most laws – against theft, murder, assault, libel, you name it – are based on religious principles. I do what I can with sarcasm but it obviously isn’t enough.
Via Veritas: Altered Nuclear Transfer.
I wonder where these idiots got their “medical experts”….
Jonathan, they’re the same experts who determined that death via dehydration ain’t such a painful thang. Quite euphoric actually, was how one “expert” put it. I’m just wondering where they got these voluntary subjects for their studies? And how did they qualify their findings? Ya can’t exactly ask them afterwards about their death by dehydration experience. I’m thinking they’re in league with whale talkers.