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--- utsfl:classroom:seminars:pba302h [2015/11/09 10:07] – created this seminar based on Gilbert's equivocating balleyne
+++ utsfl:classroom:seminars:pba302h [2021/03/03 20:24] (current) – [Some Contraceptives Are Abortifacients] ERI pro-life counterpoint balleyne
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== PBA302H: Scientific Consensus on Fertilization as Beginning of a New Organism ======
+====== PBA302H: Contraceptives, Abortifacients, Pills ======
-Human life begins at fertilization. Fertilization is the creation of a new individual organism.
+UTSFL is neutral on the morality of contraception, however the question will arise and we do need to consider some of the issues involved with contraception that relate to the abortion question.
-This is bad news for abortion advocates. Many become anti-science or try to shift the question.
+We need to understand the relationship between various forms of birth control and abortion as a backup to failed birth control. No form of birth control is 100% effective and preventing pregnancy after intercourse, and thus any approach to social relationships that involves intercourse but not the possibility of a children will inevitable raise the abortion question.
-The author of the CSB328H textbook apparently contests that there is a clear scientific answer((http://gerardnadal.com/2010/01/07/more-from-the-scientific-community-on-the-identity-and-status-of-the-human-embryo/#comment-390)), even while taking the view that fertilization is the creation of a new organism.
-> “Are scientists agreed that human life begins at fertilization?”
+===== Some Contraceptives Are Abortifacients =====
->
+  * Contraception itself doesn't necessarily end the life of another human being -- but if it does, that's where UTSFL does take a stance in opposition
-> (Scott Gilbert:)No. There are several scientifically defensible positions as to when human life begins. One position is that human life begins when the human egg and sperm nuclei fuse at fertilization. This is the “genetic view.” A second position is that human life begins when the embryo becomes an individual. This is the time, 14 days after fertilization, when each embryo can produce only one individual, rather than twins or triplets. In religious terms, this would mean that ensoulment (whatever that may be) must occur after day 14, since twins are separate individuals. In the United Kingdom, this 14-day “embryologic view” of human individuality is the basis for human biological research, and it has been adopted by the entire biomedical research community there. It has the force of law in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority that licenses and governs Britain’s embryo and stem cell research. A third position is that human life begins when the human-specific electroencephalogram (EEG) is acquired at around 25 weeks. Since our society has defined human death as the loss of the EEG pattern (and not, say, when the heart stopping or the cells dye), some scientists have argued that the acquisition of this EEG pattern be considered the time when the fetus becomes human. The fourth position is that human life begins when it can be metabolically independent from the mother, the traditional “birthday.” So there are several scientifically defensible positions as to when a new human life begins”
+  * http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/which_birth_control_methods_cause_abortion/
+  * FIXME Does the pill //actually// act as an abortifacient? https://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/6-resources-whether-birth-control-pills-cause-abortions/ (Life Training Institute podcast, reasons for doubt)
+    * However, if there's uncertainty about whether ot not a human being is being killed, shouldn't we err on the side of caution?
+      * Demolition analogy (should we be sure the building is empty?)
+      * Hunting "something moving in the bushes" analogy
+      * Methotrexate / eczema example
-===== Scientific Debate? =====
+===== Abortion Providers Report Most of their Clients Were Using Contraception =====
-Let's take these four positions in reverse order:
+Ann Furedi, bpas Chief Executive, said:
-==== The birthday view ====
+> The answer to unsafe abortion is not contraception, it is safe abortion. When you encourage women to use contraception, you give them the sense that they can control their fertility – but if you do not provide safe abortion services when that contraception fails you are doing them a great disservice.  Our data shows women cannot control their fertility through contraception alone, even when they are using some of the most effective methods. Family planning is contraception and abortion. Abortion is birth control that women need when their regular method lets them down.
-> The fourth position is that human life begins when it can be metabolically independent from the mother, the traditional “birthday.”
-Does any credible scientific source actually believe this? With in utero surgery, with neo-natal intensive care units and viability near the mid-point of pregnancy? That "human life begins at birth"? What is that individual organism before birth?
+https://www.bpas.org/about-our-charity/press-office/press-releases/women-cannot-control-fertility-through-contraception-alone-bpas-data-shows-1-in-4-women-having-an-abortion-were-using-most-effective-contraception/
-This is not a scientifically defensible position. This is just the dependency error in SLED. Being metabolically independent does not tell us when a new individual human organism has come into existence -- just when that new human organism is metabolically independent.
+  * The de facto view: contraception reduces abortion
+    * FIXME Abby Johnson points to Guttmacher stats that 54% of women having abortions were using contraception https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/tell-me-that-good-one-again-about-how-contraception-decreases-abortions
+    * [[http://www.goodmorals.org/smith4.htm|Janet Smith on Planned Parenthood v. Casey]]
+    * Only long acting reversible contraception?
+      * http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/09/contraception_abortion_and_planned_parenthood_debate_long_acting_birth_control.html
+      * http://ubyssey.ca/media/images/2016/03/Contraception_Tiers_UCSFBedsider.jpg
+  * [[wp>Comparison_of_birth_control_methods#Effectiveness_of_various_methods]]
+    * http://www.decodedc.com/home/2014/10/10/episode-55-tackling-unwanted-pregnancies-a-conversation-with.html
+    * Over 5 years... FIXME confirm numbers
+      * condom: 63% chance of pregnancy
+      * pill: 38% chance of pregnancy
+      * IUD: 2%
+        * Even with an IUD, over 5 years, 1 in 50 couples who are having sex but are not open to having a children will be faced with a unplanned pregnancy... that's still a huge demand for abortion, lot of killing...
-==== EEG View ====
-> A third position is that human life begins when the human-specific electroencephalogram (EEG) is acquired at around 25 weeks. Since our society has defined human death as the loss of the EEG pattern (and not, say, when the heart stopping or the cells dye), some scientists have argued that the acquisition of this EEG pattern be considered the time when the fetus becomes human.
-First, there is huge debate over [[wp>brain death]].
+===== Do Contraceptives Reduce the Abortion Rate? =====
+    * FIXME Ross Douhat on comparing like to like, red state versus blue state instead of developed versus developing
+      * Check maternal mortality rate too
+    * http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/380574/does-contraception-really-reduce-abortion-rate-michael-j-new
+    * [[http://blog.secularprolife.org/2018/09/pro-choice-states-have-just-as-many.html|Pro-choice states have just as many unintended pregnancies and far more abortions]]
-Second, note the qualifier "human-speciic" -- that's because other EEG patterns are likely measurable well before then. FIXME
+===== OTHER/FIXME =====
+  * On the notion of sex and "consequences" and the relationship to abortion
+    * http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/why-i-lost-faith-in-the-pro-choice-movement
+    * http://utsfl.ncln.ca/2009/10/27/abortion-empowers-no-one-part-ii/
+  * Planned Parenthood v. Casey
+  * Janet Smith on contraception and abortion
+  * pregnancy is not a disease
-But more importantly, the acquisition of the EEG pattern is very different from the loss of this pattern. The beginning of life is quite different from the end of life.
+===== Review: Chemical Abortions =====
+These are direct forms of abortion, where the only purpose of these drugs is to cause the death of the child, versus contraceptives which may have the possibility to also act as abortifacients, but may be taken without knowing whether or not a child has been created yet.
-Brain death is the complete and irreversible loss of the pattern. Afterwards, there's no getting it back. Yet before displaying the pattern, is there any surprise that it will typically be seen around 25 weeks? And, what exactly is the new individual organism that came into existence at fertilization before the acquisition of this pattern?
+{{youtube>lRDnVSMr5j0}}
+> A medical (or chemical) abortion is a non-surgical form of abortion in which the woman takes pills containing Mifepristone (RU-486) and Misoprostol (or Cytotec) to end the life of the baby. This procedure is performed during the first trimester of pregnancy. The drugs are approved by the FDA for use up to ten weeks since the first day of her last menstrual period (LMP).
-The acquisition of the pattern is an age-dependent feature of human development. This is just the level of development error in SLED. The EEG pattern doesn't tell us when a new individual human organism has come into existence, just when they are old enough for their brain to function at this particular level.
+http://abortionprocedures.com/abortion-pill/
-==== 14 days ====
-> A second position is that human life begins when the embryo becomes an individual. This is the time, 14 days after fertilization, when each embryo can produce only one individual, rather than twins or triplets.
-http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca/training/classroom/science/twinning
-From the CCBR classroom:
-> Just because some humans have the ability to split into two, doesn’t mean that prior to the split one human didn’t exist. Take the case of the flatworm. If a flatworm is cut in half, each half will regenerate into two separate, fully-functioning flatworms. But prior to this separation a flatworm nonetheless existed. Likewise, even though in rare situations one human splits into two, one human existed before that split happened, and the beginning of that one human still was at fertilization.
-==== Geneticist View ====
-This is the widely accepted view.
-http://gerardnadal.com/2010/01/07/more-from-the-scientific-community-on-the-identity-and-status-of-the-human-embryo/
-If we were talking about climate change, the scientific consensus would be clear despite some minority objections. But we're talking about abortion, so some in the same group of people who argue it's anti-science to blow minority objections out of proportion on climate change now become anti-science themselves and cling to the minority objections.
-Ironically, this seems to be the view that Gilbert's own textbooks support anyways.
-Dr. Gerard M. Nadal responds to Gilbert's comments((http://gerardnadal.com/2010/01/07/more-from-the-scientific-community-on-the-identity-and-status-of-the-human-embryo/#comment-390)):
-> Gilbert boxed himself in with his truthful statement relative to organismal identity. What he’s doing here is an attempt to present the reader with the broad range of opinions within the scientific community. Unfortunately for Gilbert, he speaks with great certitude of dogs possessing canine essence from the moment of fertilization until death, but does not apply that to humans for PC reasons.
->
-> To see his gross inconsistency, take all of these arguments he makes about humans, brainwave activity, cognition, etc, and change the word human to dog. Then compare that to his original statement about the essential identity of a dog in chapter 2. It’s self-contradictory.
->
-> The truth is that an organism’s essential identity, biologically speaking, is contained within its genome, its DNA. Let’s forget God and metaphysics for a moment and argue from a strictly atheistic perspective.
->
-> Without the ‘contaminating’ dimensionality of religion, the science becomes clearer.
->
-> An organism does not express all of its potential functions at once. Genetically, they come on line at different periods of development. None of my children has become pregnant or sired a child. They’re pre-pubescent. Because they have not reached full expression of their potential, they are no less human. Their humanity is a function of their genetic identity, regardless of developmental stage. A human organism can be no other. It is not a nonidentifiable entity until some arbitrarily established performance. It is a human organism from the moment of fertilization, just as Gilbert’s dog is a “dog” from the moment of fertilization.
->
-> Gilbert can’t spin his way out of this one. All he can do is lay down a smokescreen to ingratiate himself with the widest audience of professors to induce their adopting his book for their courses.
-===== Philosophical Question? ====
-Some dodge the scientific question and claim that "when human life begins" is a philosophical question, not a question of science.
-That's only partially true.
-Science can tell us where a biological human being begins, where a new individual organism of the human species comes into existence. That part is a question for science.
-The question of when that biological human being -- organism of the human species -- has value or rights or personhood, that is certainly a philosophical question.
-The philosophical deliberations, however, need to take into account our knowledge from biology about when a new individual of the human species comes into existence.