From: atropos@mac.com   
      
   On Feb 14, 2026 at 7:29:18 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman""  wrote:   
      
   > BTR1701   wrote:   
   >> On Feb 14, 2026 at 6:01:40 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman""    
   wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>  Rhino  wrote:   
   >>>>  On 2026-02-14 4:30 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>>>  A lawyer commenting repeated my line that a woman who spontaneously   
   >>>>>  aborts in the first month or two of pregnancy can be charged with   
   >>>>>  murder. This has massive implications for the clinical treatment of   
   >>>>>  women in ordinary and extraordinary circumstances.   
   >>>   
   >>>>>  The wall of separation between church and state has been breached.   
   >>>>>   
   >>   
   >> https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-923-governor-signed-la   
   -pregnancies-9d2f1fb895a17511a920cc42d480668e   
   >>>   
   >>>>  I think you could make a case for that breach to have happened in Roe v.   
   >>>>  Wade. The Supremes essentially drew a dividing line saying abortion was   
   >>>>  fine at such-and-such a point in the gestation cycle; the Puerto Rico   
   >>>>  decision just moved the line.   
   >>>   
   >>>  I'm not seeing your point. Blackman was criticized at the time for both   
   >>>  the arbitrary time ranges, which were not based on landmarks in   
   >>>  gestation, and his notion of when viability might occur, which he just   
   >>>  made up. Viability was a moving target anyway, given advances in   
   >>>  technology.   
   >>>   
   >>>  Where's the religion?   
   >>>   
   >>>  The arguments didn't change the centuries-old legal concept that human   
   >>>  life begins with a live birth. In probate law, a yet to be born child   
   >>>  does not inherit from the father if the father died between conception   
   >>>  and birth.   
   >>>   
   >>>  That human life begins at conception is a religious concept.   
   >   
   >> It can be but it doesn't have to be based on religion.   
   >   
   > Where else can it come from?   
      
   Science. At the moment of conception, it's a living group of cells with its   
   own distinct DNA separate from the parents. It's as good a definition of life   
   as any. The point is, believing a human life comes into being when the sperm   
   fertilizes the egg does not require some magical sky tyrant as a necessary   
   element.   
      
   > Human life with live birth was being practical. Common law was not   
   > implementing religious belief about when   
   > the soul enters.   
      
   Who said anything about souls?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)