On Apr 25, 2005, at 10:28 AM, Julia Thompson wrote:
Warren Ockrassa wrote:
On Apr 25, 2005, at 8:20 AM, Julia Thompson wrote:
I know of someone who had had more than one baby the first time
around
and was having an early ultrasound after she'd discovered she was
pregnant a second time. The first ultrasound revealed 2 fetuses, but
only 1 heartbeat was detected. The second ultrasound a couple of
weeks
later revealed only 1 fetus. (There is speculation that the
"vanishing
twin" syndrome is more common than we think, but I'm not sure how
common
it supposedly is.)
By John's argument the surviving twin should be tried for murder.
After
all s/he presumably killed and possibly engulfed his/her sibling, and
since a mass of undifferentiated cells is equal to "human" in his
lexicon, it's abundantly clear that the x-week-old is guilty. (Unless
some other fetus snuck in there in the night and did the deed.)
Fratricide, infanticide and cannibalism are serious crimes. I say we
try
the offender as an adult and don't hold back on the death penalty if
there's a guilty verdict.
That's only sensible, right?
Well, we don't know why the second twin vanishes.
If it's a matter of the fetus not being viable, but developing to a
point before it hits "not viable" due to genetic or environmental
factors having nothing to do with the surviving twin, then the
surviving
twin isn't the one who ought to be tried.
Maybe it's the parents, for having bad genes! Maybe it's due to
something environmental that someone else should be liable for! Maybe
we just ought to take it all to CIVIL court and get damages from anyone
who might possibly have contributed to the non-surviving fetus's
demise!
Two words: tort reform.
Dave
"It's a fair cop, but society's to blame.
Right, we'll be arresting them, too."
-- Monty Python
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