{"id":14615,"date":"2012-04-17T07:59:44","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T11:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.liveactionnews.org\/?p=14615"},"modified":"2013-04-03T01:23:38","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T05:23:38","slug":"why-viability-is-a-meaningless-standard-for-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-viability-is-a-meaningless-standard-for-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8220;viability&#8221; is a meaningless standard for human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Umbilical-Cord.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14616 alignright\" style=\"margin: 15px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Umbilical-Cord-300x223.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Umbilical-Cord-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Umbilical-Cord.jpg 537w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Viability. For those trying to justify abortion, it almost seems like a magic word, the quality that singlehandedly determines whether or not a baby has any rights. If a baby can\u2019t survive outside his or her mother\u2019s womb, they say, it doesn\u2019t count as a <em>real<\/em> person; it\u2019s just a part of the mother\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<p>But like all magic, the viability standard is a mere trick, a rhetorical sleight-of-hand directing the audience\u2019s attention away from the truly relevant facts about a baby\u2019s humanity. In truth, \u201cviability\u201d has no real ethical relevance.<\/p>\n<p>How could it? Surely the protection of the womb and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.med.yale.edu\/obgyn\/kliman\/placenta\/articles\/EOR_UC\/Umbilical_Cord.html\">nourishment<\/a> of the umbilical cord can\u2019t be morally significant, since these needs &#8211; shelter, nutrients, oxygen &#8211; are not at all different from the needs of adults; only the delivery method is different. <em>None<\/em> of us are \u201cviable\u201d without external aid of some sort.<\/p>\n<p>Is it the lack of certain fully developed, functioning organs which makes the difference? Pro-aborts should think twice before answering yes, considering that various birth defects, accidents, and illnesses can render children and adults similarly \u201cnon-viable,\u201d their organs unable to sustain them without the aid of devices such as pacemakers, dialysis machines, iron lungs, prosthetic limbs, or in some cases, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Artificial_organ\">entire artificial organs<\/a>. Yet most of us would instinctively recoil at the suggestion that our similarly afflicted friends or relatives are somehow less human or less worthy of protection.<\/p>\n<p>Or perhaps it\u2019s the dependence on a fellow human being that makes the difference. But here, too, there\u2019s less than meets the eye. Though <em>connected<\/em> to a mother\u2019s body, it does not follow that fetuses <em>are part of<\/em> the mother\u2019s body. <a href=\"http:\/\/rightcal.blogspot.com\/2011\/07\/indisputable-fact-life-begins-at.html\">Scientifically speaking<\/a>, humans are unique individuals from fertilization onward, with their own unique DNA, growth, and needs, and as Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft <a href=\"http:\/\/peterkreeft.com\/topics-more\/personhood.htm\">points out<\/a>, \u201cif the fetus is a part of the mother, then the parts of the fetus must be parts of the mother. But in that case, every pregnant woman has four eyes and four feet, and half of all pregnant women have penises!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Further, we have real-world examples of adults who are connected on a far deeper physical level than any mother and unborn child. Consider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/sol\/homepage\/woman\/3810505\/We-have-normal-lives.html\">George and Lori Schappell<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The twins, from Pennsylvania in America, were born sharing 30 per cent of their frontal lobe brain tissue and critical blood vessels, meaning they cannot be separated.<\/p>\n<p>A court then decided their parents couldn\u2019t care for the twins properly and they were placed in an institution in which the majority of patients were suffering from severe mental disabilities, despite neither twin having such a disability.<\/p>\n<p>Lori says: \u201cThere was absolutely nothing wrong with us, apart from physically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut people didn\u2019t know any better.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Lori is a \u201cchampion ten-pin bowler,\u201d while George \u201cperforms as a country and western singer.\u201d If <em>sharing part of a brain<\/em> doesn\u2019t keep people from being distinct individuals, then how can a simple cord passing blood mean anything?<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to its prominence in pro-abortion arguments, viability doesn\u2019t make anyone more or less human, alive, or worthy of respect and protection. Justifying something as severe as the destruction of innocent human beings will take much more than a smoke-and-mirror routine about humans\u2019 basic needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Viability. For those trying to justify abortion, it almost seems like a magic word, the quality that singlehandedly determines whether or not a baby has any rights. If a baby can\u2019t survive outside his or her mother\u2019s womb, they say, it doesn\u2019t count as a real person; it\u2019s just a part of the mother\u2019s body. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":14616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why &quot;viability&quot; is a meaningless standard for human rights - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-viability-is-a-meaningless-standard-for-human-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why &quot;viability&quot; is a meaningless standard for human rights - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Viability. For those trying to justify abortion, it almost seems like a magic word, the quality that singlehandedly determines whether or not a baby has any rights. If a baby can\u2019t survive outside his or her mother\u2019s womb, they say, it doesn\u2019t count as a real person; it\u2019s just a part of the mother\u2019s body. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-viability-is-a-meaningless-standard-for-human-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-17T11:59:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-03T05:23:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Umbilical-Cord.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"537\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-viability-is-a-meaningless-standard-for-human-rights\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-viability-is-a-meaningless-standard-for-human-rights\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"Why &#8220;viability&#8221; 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Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. 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