But that's the whole point. Lack of caring on the part of the adults who are responsible for caring for the children is exactly equivalent to lack of rights on the part of the children to be cared for.
You seem to have this idea that children, no matter how young, have no rights.. Tell me, if you slap your child can you not be jailed for doing so? What if it's just a 1 day old? Would the same not happen? Ergo: kids do have rights, albeit, they are at the mercy of adults, but also under the protection of adults. Just because they are not in position to defend themselves, doesn't mean they "lack rights". In saying i refer to "right of existence". If the child has a brain and is feeding, (something things do in order to survive), it has the right to life. ('Feeding' implies connection with the mother through which feeding/breathing etc are undertaken).
One could argue that because the child is in essence simply leeching off it's mother, the mother has the say... But to me it's the opposite. Once a being has actively established the survival mechanism, it is the duty of the parent to ensure its survival, (or at least try damn hard).
I am not in any way qualified to explain the ins and outs of pregnancy but in my view 6 months is a little late to decide to end a childs life.
Ok, if you were to force a woman to have an unwanted child there would be extreme problems. It's not like the planet isn't screwed up enough as it is, without adding a whole heap of new "unwanteds" into the fray. The way it currently looks i doubt the system would be able to cope. However, what is therefore needed above all other things is education. There are preventative methods, and "after the fact" measures, (morning after pill).
Instead, (in England at least), women are getting pregnant, not being concerned until months have passed, and then deciding a child would "ruin their career". When life itself means nothing in comparison to a bit of prestige and money then what is anything worth? There are always times when there is serious reason for the death of an unborn child, and i acknowledge that, but there are also times when it could have been prevented or sorted out in the very early stages.
If you want to set forth the ability to "do bugger" as a measure of the rights a young human being deserves, you're likely to paint yourself into a corner in which newborns are qualitatively different from babies three months older.
Eh? I do believe we were talking about a 1 day old egg. Of course, as you said, we all must draw a line.... Mine is just a lot lower than yours. Would you state a newborn is as important as a 3 month old? Yes, well now just lower it back a bit, and that's where i'm at.
And your opinion is based on your emotions, just like the rest of us.
Well, i have spent my whole life as an avid lover of nature. The beauty of life itself- so i have always opposed abortion- and my stance has always been the same. The death of my son is yet another reason, but all a part of the same opinion.
There was a woman in the hospital at the same time as my wife and i. Her child was force born at 5 months and given a very low survival probability- in fact pretty non existant. That child is still alive and celebrating her 4th next week. Now what if she hadn't have wanted the child, and got it killed at that stage? This life, this child running round learning so many things, doing so many things would be nothing but a bloodball in a bin liner.
Ok it is rare that children of this age survive, but even that child has the right to be born and to grow up and see all that we have been lucky enough to see. Without the choice of the parents that child would most likely go full term and then be born just like any other human being. This 4 year old girl has the same rights as any other 4 year old, and had the same rights as any other child in existence even though she was technically 1 month too young to be considered a human being in her own right. Would that imply that the doctors should just let her die? Or would they fight-because life is life regardless of how small and insignificant you might seem. The minute doctors crowd around fighting to save something- you can be damned sure that is an individual life worth saving.
Sure, there is a line that must be drawn somewhere... With proper education of people that line wouldn't have to be visited so often.