Comment when is it ok? (Score 1) 559
Anything that has the ability to choose should have the right to choose. That is to say, you do not make decisions for me(unless I say its ok for you to do so). Euthanizing a child, with this reasoning, is wrong(in most cases).
Thats probably a bit too idealistic for more than a handful of people to swallow.
I assume everyone agrees there are cases that children should be euthanized, and cases where they should not be. The extreme case where most people, i believe, will agree would be an all but brain-dead child being born in some form of coma. Assuming that case belongs to the set of acceptable euthanizable babies, one should try and find the boundary points. Where do you(most people will differ...) draw the line?
I believe the ability to think is what makes us human. If there was a baby that would not ever be able to think, it would not be "murder." Its ok in my eyes for someone in such a situation to euthanize. A baby that is not mentally able to make this decision for him/herself does not need to be guaranteed life.
How different of a question is this from abortion/contraception? Both regard uprooting a plant before it has a chance to grow. Its just a question of when and under what conditions its ok to do so. All the abstraction in the world won't allow us to plug some information into a formula and decide what is right.
There are cases where it is ok, and even right to euthanize a baby. The question is under what circumstances should we, as a society, decide a baby is euthanizable.
You just don't get do-overs with human lives.
Thats probably a bit too idealistic for more than a handful of people to swallow.
I assume everyone agrees there are cases that children should be euthanized, and cases where they should not be. The extreme case where most people, i believe, will agree would be an all but brain-dead child being born in some form of coma. Assuming that case belongs to the set of acceptable euthanizable babies, one should try and find the boundary points. Where do you(most people will differ...) draw the line?
I believe the ability to think is what makes us human. If there was a baby that would not ever be able to think, it would not be "murder." Its ok in my eyes for someone in such a situation to euthanize. A baby that is not mentally able to make this decision for him/herself does not need to be guaranteed life.
How different of a question is this from abortion/contraception? Both regard uprooting a plant before it has a chance to grow. Its just a question of when and under what conditions its ok to do so. All the abstraction in the world won't allow us to plug some information into a formula and decide what is right.
There are cases where it is ok, and even right to euthanize a baby. The question is under what circumstances should we, as a society, decide a baby is euthanizable.
You just don't get do-overs with human lives.
