You asserted that doctors would agree that a fetus is objectively living. You have not given evidence to suggest that they would.
I mentioned RAZD's thread and you gave me some arguments that the discussion was moot. Working backward...
#4 There is no natural cause of death in the case of abortion, it is unatural.
That is wholly irrelevant to the question of whether a fetus is a living person.
#3 the law was written for people who have already been born
That doesn't help your case, as if doctors all believed fetuses were living persons they'd have crafted rules for them. But I would argue the rules apply to fetuses anyway. Or are you suggesting that there are different criteria for death for a fetus?
#2 If you cause someones death, you can go to jail for it
Again, wholly irrelevant to the question of if a fetus is a living person. How can that possibly make his argument a moot point?
#1 People who are dead will always be dead.
This is really the only point which goes to the discussion in RAZDs thread. I would point out that it is not true as people really have come back from clinical death, and one would think a practicing Xian would not advance this notion, but on the whole you are correct.
It combines with your final statement...
His whole argument, and everyone elses here assumes that time doesn't happen
This is not quite true. I do assume time happens. For some time means a fetus is heading for certain death (never to be born) and in some cases taking the mother with it.
In any case RAZD's position did not hinge on this. The point was to define when a fetus would fulfill the criteria of a living person. It was useful to show that for some period of time fetuses so not qualify as alive (as they certainly do qualify as "dead").
There is no question that cellular life is going on. The cells are alive and moving through stages to get to a person. The argument from many supporting abortion is that cellular life does not equate to living person, or individual life. Certainly before implantation there is nothing but a mass of cells. During gestation (after implantation) the fetus takes on more characteristics of individual life. Much of that time does not seem to be anything close to an individual, but rather a more complex mass of cells.
Again, I do not think it is safe for you to claim that doctors would view the fetus as objectively alive in the sense of a living person. If you mean simply living tissue, then they do the same for cancer, and remove that pretty easily.
holmes
"Some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." (Lovecraft)
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