The abortion paradox

[The Grand Nudger]

What a society believes about the humanity of the unborn effects its views about the retarded, the terminally ill, and criminals, among others. Abortion, like euthanasia, is a form of eugenics, a way to cull society of inconvenient populations. As our technology advances this tool becomes even more threatening. We could now abort those genetically predisposed to homosexuality, clinical depression, blue eyes, or use it for simple sex selection (some already do). Recognizing the humanity of the unborn forestalls moving into those areas.

You think so eh? So why was it illegal to abort a fetus but perfectly legal to electrocute a criminal, or sterilize "the retarded" (forcibly and without consent) simultaneously? Why is it now legal to abort a fetus, but illegal to sterilize "the retarded" and split on the issue of electrocuting criminals? Clearly these things aren't as tied at the hip as you are hoping to suggest. In this case, your slippery slope doesn't even fucking exist. It's a level plane where these individual scenarios are handled by (largely) their own laws and statues, with full recognition (such as you express below this portion re rape etc) that they are not interchangeable.

Who, do you imagine, might abort a child for homosexuality btw? Honestly, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and propose that anyone willing to abort their child because they don't want to give birth to a queer (or a blue eyed baby..or any of this nonsense) should probably be granted their wish. Mind you, I'm not personally a fan of abortion, but under the circumstances you've laid out it seems almost cruel (not to the mother..but to the fucking child) not to green-light the procedure.

I'm not entirely certain how selecting the sex of a child factors into something threatening, but I'm sure you have you reasons. As much as I joke about it, I'm not so attached to my penis that the notion of my mother selecting my sex to be female instead of male would cause me to lose much sleep. Mileage may vary on that count, clearly.

All this said, abortion is not a matter of personal morality but of legality. You and I are free to feel icky about abortion unto the end of days, but in this particular scenario the rights of the mother have been assigned precedence (this, ignoring that personhood hasn't been granted to the fetus). As unpalatable as abortion may be to you or I, the alternative is (to me) entirely more brutal. Am I to become the justification for a gang of moral busybodies invading the wombs of women? I think I'll pass.