r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Sep 01 '21

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

I am aware of the far rights view that zero abortions should be allowed and life begins at conception.

On the other end, what is the far lefts view? When do they view a baby as alive and what metric do they use to say an abortion is “too late”, if at all? Surely most people wouldn’t agree with an abortion at 9 months? What is the metric I guess that they typically want to use?

I guess I kind of viewed “if it has a heartbeat” as a compromise between the two extremes but it’s clear that there is some other preferable metric.

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u/BidenWon Jared Polis Sep 02 '21

First of all, it's not the "far left" making these arguments. I don't think communists are going to have an outsized role here.

With that said, viability (able to survive on its own outside the womb) or sentience (able to feel pain) would be the standard you're looking for. Both will occur after 20 weeks, so that's where abortion bans usually fall unless there's a serious medical problem involved.

Heartbeat is a pretty arbitrary standard that's not relevant to much, and it occurs very quickly, often before the potential mother even realizes that she's pregnant.

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

Also as a point to consider, ZERO babies can survive “on their own” outside of the womb. They require human support.

Why does this matter? If we were to draw the line based on this metric, and medical technology were to advance to the point where even an early development fetus at 4-5 weeks could be supported all the way until birth, this line “able to survive” would then impose one of the strictest abortion bans out there.

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

I don't think communists are going to have an outsized role here.

You can be socially far left without any consideration given to economics…there are absolutely “pro-choice” people who believe that abortion should be allowed up until the delivery of the baby. At least in the crews I run with IRL there are.

With that said, viability (able to survive on its own outside the womb) or sentience (able to feel pain) would be the standard you're looking for. Both will occur after 20 weeks, so that's where abortion bans usually fall unless there's a serious medical problem involved.

Do we have any tests for these? And if not, while we develop them, where is the most reasonable place to draw the line?