None of us knows the eventual personhood of an unborn human. However, if their parents are predisposed genetically toward certain diseases or deformities of a physical nature we can reliably predict a certain expectation in the child.
Why do you imagine that does not apply to behavior?
If a family such as the BACH family can produce generations of musical genius just as the offspring of a superb stallion possess the qualities of the progenitor--why exempt the human?
Because nature is odd like that. Sometimes, children turn out to be the complete opposite of what their parents were. Scientists can`t make up their mind on this. First they believed it was genes+environment, then that genes was most important, now they`re not sure. Personally, I come from a long line of shitty, stupid, mean, evil idiots. But I turned out ok, with a uni-degree, not a wifebeater, good with my kid, good with friends. Same goes for most my siblings. Nature is funny. So, of course there pre-dispositions, but that is no argument for abortion (in the sense "weed out the trash). The question is: Even if we did know how an individual would turn out (which we can`t, not only because there are certain things that can`t be "seen" or "observed" in the genes, but because the environment is also an x-factor which we can`t fully control), would that give us the right to abort a "bad seed"? Maybe, maybe not. You should go rent a russian movie from the early 80s called "Go and See".
Abortion is our topic here. When we destroy a fetus (for whatever reason) it is as reasonable as our reasons themselves. There is no extra layer of profundity. Why? Because it is tissue and not person.
So you are just stating that as a fact? I whought that was the issue we were discussing (whether it is just tissue, or if it has human value).
To be a person you must exist over a period of time with full opportunity (physical, mental and emotional) to develop personality, identity and function.
That means that no new-born babies are humans either. Yes, they look human, but they have no more personality than what they had during the last couple of months inside the womb. Just kill em all. The point? That if we are to determine when an individual (featuses included) can be said to have personality, identity and function, then this is a 100% subjective evaluation. Subjective evaluations under the disguise of objective evaluations are the most effective tool of tyrants and murderers.
