Legalised Infanticide

[NOX]

I'm not usually at a loss for words about much, but for a good few moments this article left me speechless. Just wondered what everyone else thought.
http://www.dailymail....?ICO=most_read_module

[NOX]

No-one suggested she did ask for it to be made law- but is there a serious need ofr an 'academic' argument of this nature?

[daffy654]

Not really Nox. I think the death threats the lady has received because of this article are a bit much though.

[NOX]

I think death threats towards anyone are a bit much, she is after all entitled to her opinion and it doesn't do to frighten people into not speaking, but I do think she was very naieve to think there wouldn't be any. I'm appalled from a totally non religious pov, but the far right, anti-choice fundamentalist Christian brigade were always going to have a field day with her.

[naomi24]

In that discussion I was listening to, the ethics of separating conjoined twins when it meant certain death for one of them was also raised.

[chaptazbru]

Not feeding the baby till it dies - O dear God !!!!!

[jno]

she's a philosopher, Nox, and it's a philosopher's job to ask tricky questions that force us to think - if they don't, who will? Those who disagree with her might think about exactly where they would draw the line at killing - is 25 weeks a medical turning point, a legal convenience, or just a figure pulled out of a hat? (Like the recommended daily units of alcohol, for example.)

She should probably have expected controversy; but not death threats.

[NOX]

I don't believe Jno that it is a philospher's job to ask questions that common sense tells you the vast majority of people would find disgusting or unpalettable, otherwise someone would have been questioning whether Josef Mengele's experiments might have had validity. Philosophers philosophise, this is nothing of the sort- this is a naieve young woman who is doubtless not a parent, but so proud of her academic credentials that she thinks they entitle her to bypass normal humane considerations. It appears from the backlash against her that she was wrong.