by Sarah Mednick / Roundup
The health care plan in Washington has sparked up old flares and started debates like ‘Philosophy of Abortion’ at Pierce College.
While Congress looked at withholding federally backed insurance payments for abortions, abortion rights and anti-abortionists met in the Great Hall on Dec. 3.
According to Planned Parenthood, one out of three women in the U.S. have abortions.
Professor Paul Hicks, the philosophy club faculty adviser, organized the event. Hicks said he and the philosophy club students thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss.
Betty Odello, philosophy department chair, said this topic had not been debated in a long time due to the controversy behind it.
“I want this debate to be a respectful one, and not a fight,” Odello said.
Anti-abortionist Dr. Miguel Endara, said abortion is discriminatory by letting humans be destroyed.
He considers embryos as human beings, because we were all once an embryo.
“Philosophers have debated whether the embryos are human beings and therefore have rights,” said Endara, who believes an unborn child has more rights than the mother.
“The ‘Golden Rule’ is to treat people the way they want to be treated,” said anti-abortion professor Lucas Miller, who believes people who support abortion are hypocritical toward the unborn. “You’re biologically different, but we are all human.”
He continued by questioning why people call their babies “it” instead of “he” or “she.”
“I don’t think people are comfortable saying the baby is a boy or a girl,” Miller said. “We say it is a boy, but not he is an it.”
Hicks, who believes in abortion rights, counteracted Endara’s and Miller’s claims, saying not all humans are created equal, despite what the Constitution says.
He went on to say being alive does not make one a part of the moral community.
“The fetus does not have the same moral relevance and rationality to have a future,” Hicks said.
He also believes women have the freedom of making their own decisions, whether “moral” or “immoral.”
Professor Cara Gilles, said men have too much say in abortion since it does not really apply to them.
“Why should I let a man have a say in what I decide?” said Gilles.
Gilles was impressed that people stayed rational and stuck to their moral intuitions throughout the debate.
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