I’ve grown up in a culture where abortion is commonplace. Furthermore, I risk being branded as intolerant, immoral, or worse for questioning this practice. Be that as it may, I’ve never clearly understood the logic of abortion. Why, in Canada, is it morally acceptable to terminate a normal pregnancy but morally unacceptable to euthanize a healthy happy two-year old girl? The … [Read more...]
Stem Cell Research
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Scripture for YouVersion: Short audio/video: Three questions (1 fill-in-the-blank, 1 multiple choice, and one discussion question): References for further reading: Collaboration notes: Collaborators: [Add your name … [Read more...]
Pro-Life
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Scripture for YouVersion: Psalm 127:3 Short audio/video: Three questions (1 fill-in-the-blank, 1 multiple choice, and one discussion question): References for further reading: Defense of the Pro-life position: Edwin … [Read more...]
Is Abortion Women’s Right To Control Their Bodies?
Women’s rights clearly include their right to health and to make fully informed decisions regarding their bodies. Does a woman's right to decide what she will and will not do with her body extend to cover actions affecting the fetus who may reside in her body? Does a woman’s right to control her own reproduction include a right to induced abortion? Granting the notion that our … [Read more...]
Abortion and A Flawed Brain-life Theory
Tracking Baruch Brody’s view, brain-life theorists claim that, being fully human, a being must possess properties “such that their loss would mean the going out of existence (the death) of a human being”(Brody 1975, 102). The property of being human, they argued, is human brain function. J Savulescu, for example, contended: If we cease to exist when our brain dies, we only … [Read more...]
What is Wrong With Abortion? A Philosophical Case
Is it possible to make a case for the prima facie wrongness of killing a human fetus that does not depend on theological premises? In 1989 atheist philosopher Donald Marquis introduced a philosophical case for immorality of abortion that neither depended on the personhood nor consciousness of the fetus. Consider these five cases, borrowed from Pedro Galvão (2007): (A) The … [Read more...]
Abortion mills and Kermit Gosnell: What is the real problem?
Despite a relatively low amount of media coverage, you have likely run across the case of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor (labeled a monster) who ran what many have called a 'house of horrors' abortion mill. Last month, he was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to life in prison. But, … [Read more...]
Why does life have value, or does it?
As one who has lived in and studies multiple cultures around the world, I am often intrigued by how cultures observe and value life. In economically undeveloped or developing countries, life generally holds a low value. This view is not completely confined to these countries with first world countries now beginning to embrace a reduced value on human life as evident through … [Read more...]
The Strange Story of Dr. Kermit Gosnell and the National Press (Part 4)
The decision is in and the coverage – what there was of it – is done. A jury in Philadelphia found Dr. Kermit Gosnell guilty on three counts of first-degree murder. He was charged with killing four babies and a patient, but was acquitted of killing the fourth baby. The jury also found Gosnell guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the patient’s death. The 41-year-old woman died … [Read more...]
"Now We Know Her"
"My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: 'You said the same thing a minute ago'… Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep." The aged mother has … [Read more...]