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Comment by dam_broke_it | Hacker News Reader

Just so nice to be back in 1692.....

Earlier times did not have lightning fast communications and global online tracking tools. The conservative crusade against abortion is also a recent phenomenon, historically speaking. Benjamin Franklin gave instructions on at-home abortions in a book in the 1700s [1]. And the ancient Romans used a plant called silphium for birth control, to a point where the plant went extinct. [2]

[1] https://www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099542962/abortion-ben-frank...

[2] https://allthatsinteresting.com/silphium

Alternatively, you could say we are progressing to understand that outdated concepts like viability have no scientific basis and human rights should be extended to all humans, even those in early developmental phases. The idea that some humans can be killed because they are “less” is a very primitive and prejudicial idea.

Then why draw the line at abortion?

We already deprive entire categories of humans of human rights: minors. And that's just fine. Minors can't vote or exercise many rights that adults can.

I see no problem with depriving fetuses of all human rights.

A pregnancy may not be viable. That's just a fact. A fetus can die inside the womb. Miscarriages happen.

There is also this post on the nursing subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/vm3cau/many_lives_...

"We had a woman with an ectopic walk in at 11:30 pm last night. We had to basically sit on her until the doc could speak with a lawyer. Her ectopic ruptured. She then did not get her procedure done for another 9 hours bc the doc was working with the lawyer for so long trying to work around the laws and not lose his license. By the time she had her procedure she had over 600cc of blood in her abdomen. She almost died."

I cannot imagine myself letting a woman die through no fault of her own because of an abstract principle.

This is why we have the bodily autonomy argument as a strong proponent of abortion rights. Fundamentally the argument's validity does not depend on the humanity of the fetus.

I think arguments that depend on proving that the fetus is less human are fundamentally doomed to fail.

A foetus is less developed than my toe. I don't see anyone calling to give my toe human rights.

> A foetus is less developed than my toe.

I think much confusion comes from miscommunication and unclear meaning of words.

Embryo -> until the ninth week after conception, inner organs are not yet present.

Fetus -> from the ninth week (heart, hands, feet, brain and other inner organs are present) until birth.

While a nine week old fetus is very small and the size of your big toe, it does grow very fast after that point. Anyway, even a nine month old unborn is still called a fetus.

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