Abortions are not a good thing, but they are better than the alternative

[etherial]

She told me if her parents found out she was pregnant she would be disowned and kicked out of the family home. She also told me that her brothers would murder her boyfriend, and I believed her. About an hour after her operation I and my nurse saw her and her boyfriend walking out of the clinic hand in hand, and I said to my nurse, "Look at that. We saved two lives today."

Comments

Re: Language

[da-popa.livejournal.com]

I made it a goal to not to presume what anyone thinks about such issues within this conversation; I have heard several times a denial of species when discussing abortion, so the use of "human" seemed both necessary and honest (again, if that was a problem, a re-reading with the latin equivalent should clear up any issues).

Again, the point of my post was not to talk about the morality of abortion itself (I would not try to use etherial's LJ to make such an unrelated post; apologies to him if such occurred). The point was that the story was interesting to me because it seemed that the way we interpret it probably depends on something similar to the calculus I put forth, and then suddenly realizing how making people heroes and villains as relates to the issue might serve to polarize factions and get in the way of assisting those who would seek help.

[As an aside, I'd be interested in learning more about metaphysical naturalism; any good sources? If not, is it very different from (philosophical) materialism? Thanks.]

Re: Language

[dirkcjelli.livejournal.com]

Richard Carrier's book, Sense and Goodness without God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism is a form of philosophical materialism, though it differs from historical materialism etc.

It is worth noting I'm displaying insufficient compassion towards [those whose beliefs differ], and so not being a very good spokesperson for the philosophy of life I'm espousing.

Generally, I consider people who shoot doctors to be villains. Your mileage may vary.

Re: Language

[da-popa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reference!