In the film The Shadowlands, C. S. Lewis describes facing the fact that his wife Joy has cancer as merely coming up against a bit of experience. My father is on a respirator and has been unconscious for over a week. He abused alcohol his entire life and has been in decline for a year and a half, but the onset of this episode was so sudden and devastating that my family has been forced to confront the possibility of his imminent death. My cell phone is working a permanent groove into my head right now, and I seem to have little time to read and write about daily happenings in the world of bio-ethics.
That said, I wanted to share something. One of my sisters and I were discussing my father’s condition. The doctors had tried to ease him off of the respirator to see if he could breathe on his own, but his respiration rate accelerated and it became clear that without aid from the machine he would stop breathing all together. The doctor told me they would try again today and see if it went better. My sister asked me, “How many times will they do this?”
“What?” I asked in response.
“How many times will they try to take him off and fail before they stop trying?”
There it was. I write about this stuff all of the time and talk about it to the great irritation of anyone who disagrees with me, but now my family and I were sorting these issues out for real. I am the official next of kin on record, so ultimately the doctors will look to me to provide answers. How hard will we try to preserve his life? How long will we fight? What is left of the man I once knew?
The fact that I have so thoroughly thought these matters through is of great comfort to me right now. His physicians are not oracles who inform me when my father’s life ceases to be of value. It is easy to see how we can make that mistake, though. Some people in my family are not so prepared and they hang on every word the doctor’s utter as if it will settle the terrible question that haunts us all. “Is this the end?” I have tried to calm the storm of misinformation and competing diagnosis that fly through the ether in the never ending barrage of cell phone calls by assuring everyone, “The doctors can’t answer that yet. They are telling us all that they know, but they do not know everything.”
It is my opinion that we do a disservice to the medical professionals by asking so much of them in this area. They should be free to diagnose and treat my father. I am then free to hold his hand and pray for him. I can reassure him while he sleeps that no matter what he has done to his body through alcohol abuse, no matter what he has done to our relationship through the choices he has made, his son never ceased to love him. And I will continue to love and cherish him as long as I live.
Never have the stark differences between medical/scientific knowledge and spiritual knowledge been so painfully and glaringly apparent to me. The doctors and medical professionals will give me a full assessment of his physical condition and prognosis. Then we, my father’s family, will make our decisions. They have their job, and it ought not to include telling us when our loved ones cease to matter.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Consequences of Choice Absolutism [Serge]
This was a very thoughtful article in the Nation regarding the future of "reproductive freedom" in the wake of future technological advances. The author correctly identifies a real dilemma among those who believe that reproductive choice is absolute. What do we do when such individual choices begin to effect society at large? If so-called "reproductive choice" is an absolute right, then how do we deal with choices that are detrimental. His solution, shockingly enough for a pro-choicer, is government regulation of the process!
These are things that our side have been saying for years. Unrestricted reproductive choice has already resulted in significant social and societal changes that have harmed the common good. Trumping one's right to dismember their pre-natal human being as an absolute has resulted in the situation we have now.
Current technologies such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis [PGD] and sperm sorting--and possible future technologies such as cloning and germline modification--will enable parents to make decisions that greatly affect gender balance, disease burdens, genetic diversity and the genes of humans themselves. In order to address these new possibilities adequately, we will need to find a way to regulate some choices while maintaining existing reproductive freedoms.In the article he argues that choices such as sex selection, screening for specific genetic traits, or even the eradication of some genetic diseases should be regulated (which means prohibited) even if such choices can be performed via the process of sperm and ovum selection. In other words, a mother would maintain the right to kill her prenatal child, but would be prohibited from manipulating her and her partner's gametes to conceive a child without a certain disease trait. This is very interesting thinking. The author then begins to sound like a pro-lifer:
So what is the appropriate response to these current and future issues? The most reasonable solution is regulation. Progressives are understandably wary of regulating anything related to reproductive decision-making. But an unregulated fertility industry is even more unappealing. Certain unregulated individual reproductive choices in a market system could easily lead to undesirable societal outcomes, particularly because individuals would be unlikely to sacrifice perceived benefits to their children for the seemingly abstract concept of the common good.Undesirable social outcomes? Common good? Restricting one's individual reproductive choices for the common good because individuals will be unlikely to make right choices? The whole concept of "reproductive choice" is thrown into the waste bin.
These are things that our side have been saying for years. Unrestricted reproductive choice has already resulted in significant social and societal changes that have harmed the common good. Trumping one's right to dismember their pre-natal human being as an absolute has resulted in the situation we have now.
Monday, July 23, 2007
A Tour Through Fallacy Land [Serge]
I just got back from a great camping vacation with my family - so my apologies to the commenters that did not have their comments moderated for a while. Thanks also for Jay and his hard work here in our absence.
Jay linked to this post regarding the beginning of human life. It has always amazed me that those who purport to use rational science and reasoning to support their position often do so in fallacious means. In these paragraphs in the middle of his post, he uses three different logical fallacies.
The phrase "life begins at conception" is basically an abbreviated version of "the life of an individual human organism begins at conception". It is true that life "began" a number of years ago, and no one in these bioethical debates questions that. The question is when an individual life begins. The author of the post must know this, but avoids the question by equivocating on the word "life".
This one is very common. The author assumes that the pro-lifer believes that it is the mere presence of "new" DNA which confers value or personhood on an entity. The problem is that no pro-lifer that I know of makes this argument. The presence of "new" DNA is neither a sufficient (as the author points out) nor a necessary (in the case of twins) condition for a new human organism. He is taking out an argument that we do not make, and avoiding the one that we do.
You may notice a straw man argument there also, but I'm sticking with the format. To beg the question is to assume something that you need to support with evidence. Here, the author simply assumes that an embryo that has not implanted is not "life" until it does implant. Not only does this assertion beg the question, it is demonstrably false.
I also wish to point out that he is using a horrendous argument. Lets say that someone is in a bad motor vehicle accident and he is given a 20% chance of surviving the night. He only has a 20% potential of being a live human organism in the morning. What does that fact say about his status at this time? Would anyone argue that the patient that they are working on is less than a human being because he does not have a great chance of not surviving? No way.
Jay linked to this post regarding the beginning of human life. It has always amazed me that those who purport to use rational science and reasoning to support their position often do so in fallacious means. In these paragraphs in the middle of his post, he uses three different logical fallacies.
For one, any time someone suggests life "begins" you know that you're no longer talking about a biological problem but a moral or theological one. It is not a biological problem as life does not "begin" with each round of human reproduction. Life is continuous. Sperm are alive, and eggs are alive, and life has been a continuous stream of living organisms begetting more living organisms since it began in some form some 1 billion years ago. The appropriate question isn't whether life "begins" but rather when should we care?...Logical Fallacy: Equivocation
The phrase "life begins at conception" is basically an abbreviated version of "the life of an individual human organism begins at conception". It is true that life "began" a number of years ago, and no one in these bioethical debates questions that. The question is when an individual life begins. The author of the post must know this, but avoids the question by equivocating on the word "life".
But one could then argue, the fusion of the egg and a sperm is a "new" life. This isn't a great distinction either for a few reasons. For one, that would also make each egg and sperm that went through recombination and meiosis new life since they don't have a gene complement identical to their parent cells. So would cancer be "new" life. Just because something is new, doesn't create a valid argument, in my opinion, for its value or personhood.Logical Fallacy: Straw man argument
This one is very common. The author assumes that the pro-lifer believes that it is the mere presence of "new" DNA which confers value or personhood on an entity. The problem is that no pro-lifer that I know of makes this argument. The presence of "new" DNA is neither a sufficient (as the author points out) nor a necessary (in the case of twins) condition for a new human organism. He is taking out an argument that we do not make, and avoiding the one that we do.
Logical fallacy: Begging the QuestionThe best argument they have is that the embryo is a "potential" life - but is it really? Some 50% of fertilized eggs fail to implant, of those 50% that implant, the spontaneous miscarriage rate is about 10%. So 45% of the time fertilization might lead to a viable fetus. It is potential life, but there's already a great deal of waste of this kind of life that no one sheds a tear over - probably because they realize that it's not really a person being lost. Sperm and eggs then have potential of leading to a viable fetus too, what then makes the fertilized embryo more special? The higher probability of viability? What probability of forming a life then confers the value of personhood? Where is the threshold? Is wearing a condom then robbing sperm of their vital probability of making a new life equivalent to abortion? (some would say so - most would not)
Either way, an embryo that hasn't been implanted doesn't really represent a new person, as it only has about a 45% potential of becoming life.
You may notice a straw man argument there also, but I'm sticking with the format. To beg the question is to assume something that you need to support with evidence. Here, the author simply assumes that an embryo that has not implanted is not "life" until it does implant. Not only does this assertion beg the question, it is demonstrably false.
I also wish to point out that he is using a horrendous argument. Lets say that someone is in a bad motor vehicle accident and he is given a 20% chance of surviving the night. He only has a 20% potential of being a live human organism in the morning. What does that fact say about his status at this time? Would anyone argue that the patient that they are working on is less than a human being because he does not have a great chance of not surviving? No way.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Life Does Actually Begin Part 1 [Jay]
Recently, I have read opinions that the beginning of biological life is either a fuzzy proposition or as Dr. Mark Hoofnagle asserts here is not a true beginning at all. I am still working on a response, but Wesley Smith posted a comment under this post at Second Hand Smoke that I thought was pretty right on all by itself. He is responding to a comment that “the beginning and ends of human life are not bright lines but complex processes.”
I am posting the comment in its entirety with Wesley’s permission:
The "complication" does not come from biology, but from philosophy, ideology. Biologically we know when a new human organism has come into being: it is upon the completion of the fertilization process in which the new organism has its own genome and is a unique, discrete, integrated individual. And don't talk twinning: That is merely one of the potentialities possessed by the unique organism for a period of time in its development. Indeed,if twinning occurs, then there are two unique organisms. But the capacity to twin does not mean that the embryo is not a living organism.
Death too is a biological process in which this organism ceases to operate in an organized, integrated fashion. In other words, even if there are still some cells that are alive, after death, it is not an organism any longer. (Thus, if you remove the heart and it keeps beating, this does not mean that the heart is a living organism. It is merely a heart that can beat for a time. Similarly, the fact that hair grows for a bit after life ceases, does not make the cadaver alive since it is not acting as an integrated organism.
We complicate what constitutes the beginning and end of human life for reasons of utility and ideology. (Ironically, this is generally done by people who claim the mantle of rationality and as defenders of science.) We want to be able to engage in ESCR, and so we say that embryos are really only pre-embryos that are mere chemical processing cell bundles. We want to harvest organs, so we say that a PVS patient is really dead.
But these arguments aren't scientific. Indeed, it is postmodern biology--a corruption of science--because the biological facts don't matter, or better stated, get in the way of what we want to do and get a good night's sleep. So, we adhere to the narrative instead of the facts.
The questions of birth and death, biologically, is not really all that complicated which is why I would trust a plumber with these matters far more than a Ph.D.
I am posting the comment in its entirety with Wesley’s permission:
The "complication" does not come from biology, but from philosophy, ideology. Biologically we know when a new human organism has come into being: it is upon the completion of the fertilization process in which the new organism has its own genome and is a unique, discrete, integrated individual. And don't talk twinning: That is merely one of the potentialities possessed by the unique organism for a period of time in its development. Indeed,if twinning occurs, then there are two unique organisms. But the capacity to twin does not mean that the embryo is not a living organism.
Death too is a biological process in which this organism ceases to operate in an organized, integrated fashion. In other words, even if there are still some cells that are alive, after death, it is not an organism any longer. (Thus, if you remove the heart and it keeps beating, this does not mean that the heart is a living organism. It is merely a heart that can beat for a time. Similarly, the fact that hair grows for a bit after life ceases, does not make the cadaver alive since it is not acting as an integrated organism.
We complicate what constitutes the beginning and end of human life for reasons of utility and ideology. (Ironically, this is generally done by people who claim the mantle of rationality and as defenders of science.) We want to be able to engage in ESCR, and so we say that embryos are really only pre-embryos that are mere chemical processing cell bundles. We want to harvest organs, so we say that a PVS patient is really dead.
But these arguments aren't scientific. Indeed, it is postmodern biology--a corruption of science--because the biological facts don't matter, or better stated, get in the way of what we want to do and get a good night's sleep. So, we adhere to the narrative instead of the facts.
The questions of birth and death, biologically, is not really all that complicated which is why I would trust a plumber with these matters far more than a Ph.D.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Out Till September [SK]
In addition to nursing a damaged knee back to health (an old basketball injury, I think), I've got to finish up some manuscript writing and catch up on some essential reading before my Fall speaking schedule carries me away. Thus, other than reading what Serge, Jay, and Bob have to say, I'll mostly be out of the blog zone until September 7.
Till then, be sure you pre-order Frank Beckwith's new book (available August 31) Defending Life. I think it will set the standard for every pro-life book that follows.
You can read a sample chapter here. (HT: Jivin J)
Till then, be sure you pre-order Frank Beckwith's new book (available August 31) Defending Life. I think it will set the standard for every pro-life book that follows.
You can read a sample chapter here. (HT: Jivin J)
A Good Resource [Jay]
Here is a link to an animated slide show that demonstrates what the process for extracting the stem cells from an embryo and SCNT involves. Many people worry that those of us who are opposed to ESCR and SCNT only do so because we are hopelessly ignorant or idealogical. If they can educate us we will be more receptive to this field of research.
So look at the slide with the blastocyst sectioned to illustrate the trophoblast and the inner cell mass. They may fairly ask me, "Are you saying that mass, that clump of cells, is a human being deserving of rights? Does it look human? Does it possess the qualities that we associate with persons? It is a clump of cells!"
Here I think we hit a snag in differing world views. As I understand the natural rights that I have, they are unalienable and endowed to me by my Creator. My stance is "illogical" to the naturalist because all rights are assigned through government. The naturalist is asking me if I bestow rights on that clump of cells.
The answer is obviously not. I believe that all human beings have a natural right to life that neither I nor our government gives them. I believe that the lump of cells is a human being in the very early stages of development. I fail to see how the number of cells, cognitive ability, or relative size of an individual determines how I am to morally treat them as human beings.
So, yes. I do in fact look at the inner cell mass and the trophoblast and say that it is a human being. I have read several intelligent and articulate people who disagree with that belief, understood their arguments, and walked away from the experience still not convinced that the embryo is anything other than a human being. Many people have made clever arguments that it is not, but I have yet to hear much in the way of what exactly constitutes a human being if we disqualify the embryo.
So look at the slide with the blastocyst sectioned to illustrate the trophoblast and the inner cell mass. They may fairly ask me, "Are you saying that mass, that clump of cells, is a human being deserving of rights? Does it look human? Does it possess the qualities that we associate with persons? It is a clump of cells!"
Here I think we hit a snag in differing world views. As I understand the natural rights that I have, they are unalienable and endowed to me by my Creator. My stance is "illogical" to the naturalist because all rights are assigned through government. The naturalist is asking me if I bestow rights on that clump of cells.
The answer is obviously not. I believe that all human beings have a natural right to life that neither I nor our government gives them. I believe that the lump of cells is a human being in the very early stages of development. I fail to see how the number of cells, cognitive ability, or relative size of an individual determines how I am to morally treat them as human beings.
So, yes. I do in fact look at the inner cell mass and the trophoblast and say that it is a human being. I have read several intelligent and articulate people who disagree with that belief, understood their arguments, and walked away from the experience still not convinced that the embryo is anything other than a human being. Many people have made clever arguments that it is not, but I have yet to hear much in the way of what exactly constitutes a human being if we disqualify the embryo.
Natural Rights v. Concocted Rights [Jay]
Mike @ Really?!! wrote this piece on what constitutes the source of our actual rights and how the programmatic and positive rights, those rights that are established by law to satisfy some injustice that we intuited, come afoul of our natural rights, as expressed in The Declaration of Independence. Full disclosure, Really?!! is my blog that I started to put everything that I do not feel fits the LTI Blogs stated purpose. It includes everything from the sublimely stupid and pointless to pieces like this one by Mike. Also, Mike and I discussed this piece prior to his writing it. Mike studied the social programs of F. D. R. and the basis of our rights as his thesis in his Masters program studies at the University of Virginia. He feels very passionately that the government of the United States ought to be restricted in its access and control of our personal lives.
After writing this piece on Planned Parenthood, I was terribly bothered by the clear conflict of the two different types of rights. It is obvious to me that programmatic and positive rights often sound good in theory, but can run afoul of other rights in enforcement and application. Lets grant Planned Parenthood only the noblest of intentions in protecting and preserving the prescribed Constitutional right of every woman to have access to safe abortions for the purposes of this discussion. Lets also set aside the issue of the unborn and their humanity for the moment as well. So stipulating, there is ample and mounting evidence that the “right” to abortion is hopelessly flawed in that the preservation and protection of that right forces us to sacrifice the right of young women not to be sexually abused by their fathers or older men. Even if PP operated out of the best intentions imaginable, we have to start to ask serious questions about what we are willing to throw away to protect the privacy rights of women in the area of abortion.
I will draw out two examples to compare. (1) The presumption of innocence in the criminal justice system that allows guilty men to go free in order to protect the innocent from unjust incarceration. (2) The absolute right to abortion and personal bodily autonomy that creates an environment where sexual abuse goes unreported or uninvestigated. Obviously, you could do a great deal of work on this subject so I will try for brevity here.
“It is better that 100 guilty men go free than 1 innocent man be incarcerated.” People that fled governments that abused their citizenry with unfair prosecution and punishment way out of proportion to the crimes built this ideal into our criminal justice system. If you have read Robert Zacks’s The Pirate Hunter, then you get to see a good example of when a government unfairly prosecutes someone without legitimate due process as is illustrated by the trial of Captain Kidd and others in the book. I challenge anyone to read this book and others that detail the abuses of the criminal justice system and not walk away with a renewed appreciation and understanding of the presumption of innocence. Do you want the government to be able to arrest you for a crime and suppress all of the evidence of your innocence? Can we imagine that people were executed for stealing the pants of rich men? Would we empower our prosecutors to change the legal process in the midst of the case to make it impossible for people to present a legitimate defense? No one wants guilty people to go unpunished for criminal actions. We just hate the idea of innocent men and women rotting in prison more.
Now, take this logic and apply it to abortion. “It is better that 100 young women be secretly sexually abused than for 1 woman to be forced to have a child she does not want.” Before someone’s head explodes at reading that and accuses me of being unfair please recognize the following:
(a) It is a fact that the presumption of innocence has allowed people to get away with crimes because of insufficient or unjustly collected evidence.
(b) It is a fact that the efforts to protect the right of every woman to have an abortion has created an environment where the circumstances of conception are a secondary issue, including when 15 year-old girls seek abortions and get them with no investigation into the circumstances.
The two negative and unintended consequences are unavoidable. In case (1), the sacrifice seems acceptable. People ought to be punished, but every person has the natural right to live free of tyranny and unjust prosecution. A guilty person going free is a miscarriage of justice. Prosecuting the innocent without due process is violation of their natural rights. Case (2) does not feel right. It does not sound right. That is because we see the natural right of women to live free of sexual abuse in competition with the “right” of a every woman to get an abortion. When the primary interest of our government or institutions becomes the protection of the invented right to abort the unborn, then the zealous protection of that right and provision of the service runs afoul of things that ought to be of greater importance. The overwhelming majority of abortions are performed for elective reasons. That means they are not necessary. It appears that we are unintentionally making it more difficult to investigate and prosecute sexual abuse to protect the rights of women to do something they do not HAVE to do. Women and children should NEVER be sexually abused. As much as it is possible, we OUGHT to ALWAYS seek to protect women and children from this morally impermissible action. Even if you wish to argue that abortion is morally permissible but not advisable, you have to honestly look at how the practical application of that belief is playing out.
I am not saying that abortion is immoral because it creates this environment. Abortion is immoral because it terminates the life of an innocent human being for elective reasons. Abortion on demand already runs terribly rough shod over the natural right to life of the unborn. That the concocted right to abortion is also bumping up against other rights that ought to be more vigorously defended is only further evidence that it is not a legitimate right at all.
After writing this piece on Planned Parenthood, I was terribly bothered by the clear conflict of the two different types of rights. It is obvious to me that programmatic and positive rights often sound good in theory, but can run afoul of other rights in enforcement and application. Lets grant Planned Parenthood only the noblest of intentions in protecting and preserving the prescribed Constitutional right of every woman to have access to safe abortions for the purposes of this discussion. Lets also set aside the issue of the unborn and their humanity for the moment as well. So stipulating, there is ample and mounting evidence that the “right” to abortion is hopelessly flawed in that the preservation and protection of that right forces us to sacrifice the right of young women not to be sexually abused by their fathers or older men. Even if PP operated out of the best intentions imaginable, we have to start to ask serious questions about what we are willing to throw away to protect the privacy rights of women in the area of abortion.
I will draw out two examples to compare. (1) The presumption of innocence in the criminal justice system that allows guilty men to go free in order to protect the innocent from unjust incarceration. (2) The absolute right to abortion and personal bodily autonomy that creates an environment where sexual abuse goes unreported or uninvestigated. Obviously, you could do a great deal of work on this subject so I will try for brevity here.
“It is better that 100 guilty men go free than 1 innocent man be incarcerated.” People that fled governments that abused their citizenry with unfair prosecution and punishment way out of proportion to the crimes built this ideal into our criminal justice system. If you have read Robert Zacks’s The Pirate Hunter, then you get to see a good example of when a government unfairly prosecutes someone without legitimate due process as is illustrated by the trial of Captain Kidd and others in the book. I challenge anyone to read this book and others that detail the abuses of the criminal justice system and not walk away with a renewed appreciation and understanding of the presumption of innocence. Do you want the government to be able to arrest you for a crime and suppress all of the evidence of your innocence? Can we imagine that people were executed for stealing the pants of rich men? Would we empower our prosecutors to change the legal process in the midst of the case to make it impossible for people to present a legitimate defense? No one wants guilty people to go unpunished for criminal actions. We just hate the idea of innocent men and women rotting in prison more.
Now, take this logic and apply it to abortion. “It is better that 100 young women be secretly sexually abused than for 1 woman to be forced to have a child she does not want.” Before someone’s head explodes at reading that and accuses me of being unfair please recognize the following:
(a) It is a fact that the presumption of innocence has allowed people to get away with crimes because of insufficient or unjustly collected evidence.
(b) It is a fact that the efforts to protect the right of every woman to have an abortion has created an environment where the circumstances of conception are a secondary issue, including when 15 year-old girls seek abortions and get them with no investigation into the circumstances.
The two negative and unintended consequences are unavoidable. In case (1), the sacrifice seems acceptable. People ought to be punished, but every person has the natural right to live free of tyranny and unjust prosecution. A guilty person going free is a miscarriage of justice. Prosecuting the innocent without due process is violation of their natural rights. Case (2) does not feel right. It does not sound right. That is because we see the natural right of women to live free of sexual abuse in competition with the “right” of a every woman to get an abortion. When the primary interest of our government or institutions becomes the protection of the invented right to abort the unborn, then the zealous protection of that right and provision of the service runs afoul of things that ought to be of greater importance. The overwhelming majority of abortions are performed for elective reasons. That means they are not necessary. It appears that we are unintentionally making it more difficult to investigate and prosecute sexual abuse to protect the rights of women to do something they do not HAVE to do. Women and children should NEVER be sexually abused. As much as it is possible, we OUGHT to ALWAYS seek to protect women and children from this morally impermissible action. Even if you wish to argue that abortion is morally permissible but not advisable, you have to honestly look at how the practical application of that belief is playing out.
I am not saying that abortion is immoral because it creates this environment. Abortion is immoral because it terminates the life of an innocent human being for elective reasons. Abortion on demand already runs terribly rough shod over the natural right to life of the unborn. That the concocted right to abortion is also bumping up against other rights that ought to be more vigorously defended is only further evidence that it is not a legitimate right at all.
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