Would you abort your unborn child if you know that he/she would be mentally retarded?

[KungKras]

sperrico87 said:

KungKras said:

sperrico87 said:

A. When I was in the womb, I was only a hypothetical person. There were so such thing as 'me' until my conciousness got going. There is no point in comparing imaginary people to real people. Every sperm that is lost when people masturbate could have been a human, do you feel bad for them (or are you one of the three guys that doesn't masturbate?) How about when couples freeze fertilized eggs for later use but ends up not using them?

B. You're comparing hypothetical people to real people here. Once they cease to be hypothetical, they become invaluable. But while they are still hypothetical, they are not.

I'm not sure what you're trying to get across with your final point. When women have the option to have abortions, it leads to children being born in more planned, and more thought through circumstances, and thus with a better chance of a happy life.

Again, are you assuming I exist in that question (conciousness) or are you talking about me being a hypothetical person.

I'll counter with a question. Isn't not aborting an accidental/severely handikapped child the same as killing your future planned, healthy baby, in favour of another with less chance of a good life?

I think difference here is that when you say "When women have the option to have abortions, it leads to children being born in more planned, thought-through circumstances", my one and only thought is: You have no business having sexual intercourse if you're too young or immature to handle what naturally results from intercourse...i.e.: procreation.  The whole reason sex exists in the first place.

And a sperm is not a life, a sperm in a fertizilized egg is a life.  Once that process has begun taking place, it is something that should not be interfered with or disturbed.  From that point on you must let nature take it's course.

If a woman is pregnant, beyond a reasonable doubt...from that point on, you have a responsibility to see it through and take care of it.

What I meant by fertilized egg was an egg with a sperm in it. Say a guy is getting a vasectomy, but just in case he and his wife want another kid, they store some eggs with sperms in them in a freezer. They late decide they're happy with the kids they have, and end up never using the stored eggs. Would you feel sory for those eggs?

Okay. Couples usually decide to have children in their thirties and forties, (at least where I live) because that is when their incomes are the most stable, they are mature but not too old, they can afford to get that house etc etc. Are you saying people should hold their sexual urges (that are genetically programmed to appear during the teen years) until then? Or are you okay with people having kids earlier, in more unstable circumstances, because there is only so long people can delay their exual debut. Also, don't forget that since sexuality is a powerful urge, mistakes are going to happen, even with mature people.

Sure, sex exists because of the genetical advantages of sexual reproduction, and that is why it exists. But we humans have learned how to bypass the reproduction and do it simply for pleasure. I think that is one of the most amazing things about being human. The biological reward system for reproduction (which is our most powerful reward system) can be used to simply make people happy together. And when the circumstances are the best, they can decide when they want to have children. I wouldn't want to change that for anything in the world.

To the last statement. Why? If it has no brain activity yet, and is going to be born under less than optimal circumstances, and/or is severely damaged. Why not get rid of it before it becomes a person and then later have a child that you can make sure has the best upbringing possible? What is that reasonable point onwards you mentioned?

Another question. If stem cell research from cloned human fetuses could save millions of real consious people by experimenting with early stage fetuses from cloned humans (before the brain starts forming), why should we not do that and save actual people who actually exist?