At 11:04 AM 7/13/96 -0400, Cathy Smith wrote: > <snip> >As far as I know, all medical facilities require written permission before >obtaining organs or tissues. <snip> . However, if the mother has made the decision to have the baby's >life terminated, she surrenders any moral right to give such permission. How is it that we happened to leap into a discussion of your perception of moral rights? Does this perception of yours now preclude you from permitting Govenor Casey to have access to the healthy living heart that saved his life? This is the same Govenor Casey who had nothing at all to do with killing the donor. And it is the same Govenor Casey who received a heart from someone who was killed for some unknown reason other than to create organ donors. > >I came across an analogy that might make this point a little clearer. It >would be appropriate for a wife who had loved and cared for her husband to >assign the use of his body parts after he dies, but if the wife had shot and >killed her husband, by that act she forfeited her moral right to make such a >decision. Similarly, because the mother of an aborted baby had a part in >taking the life of that child, she has no moral right to authorize >transplantation of that baby's tissues. Again we have suddenly plunged into your perception of moral rights. If the woman had durable power of attorney, like it or not, she would retain the right to ensure that her husband's organ donation wishes were upheld. > >Please, please. . .do not misconstrue my intentions. I am not passing >judgment or imposing my beliefs on anyone. This is the second time in two postings you have told us you are not passing judgement or imposing your beliefs on anyone. "Methinks thou doth protest too much." Let me emphasize that I am, in a previously hidden left-handed way, imposing my beliefs on the readers in this audience. I am merely sharing them because >I believe in the sacredness of all life and am concerned with the disregard >for life at all stages. > Do you really believe in the sacredness of all life, or is it limited to human life? What are your beliefs about the use of porcine fetal tissue to save human lives? Have you ever visited India? Do you know that if the numbers of the faithful worldwide were all added up, those who wouldn't even swat a mosquito far outnumber those who merely wish to impose their abortion beliefs on others? ----------------------------------------------------------- TRW Spacecraft Operations East 14320 Sullyfield Circle Chantilly VA 22021 (703) 802-1863