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Entry: Bloody kansas Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/bloody_kansas#8249 Post contents: And here's a suggested - well not "truce", but a different way to frame the issue of abortion and "murder" - and I'm bracing myself for flames from both sides, but here goes: As a LEGAL term, "murder" is NOT the same thing as "homicide." Homicide is the killing of a human being, and some homicides are legal, eg killing in self-defense, and killing an enemy under arms in wartime. "Murder" in Anglo-American law has traditionally been defined as the: 1. unlawful killing of 2. a human being WHO HAS BEEN BORN, 3. with malice (specific intent to kill or to do grievous bodily harm) In other words, as a matter of law, abortion is not "murder", and would not be "murder" even if outlawed. The operative words are "has been born." However, that does not mean the law does not acknowledge unborn children as "human beings." If anything, the opposite is true; the law already acknowledges fetuses as Human - otherwise the provision, "who has been born" would never have been included in the definition of murder. Therefore, something I think the issue of abortion ought to be reframed to emphasis the Humanity of the unborn, instead of the (legally incorrect, and NOT because of Roe v Wade) more disputable argument that "abortion is murder." In other words I think pro-lifers might get more mileage in the long run, and make more effective arguments, if they/we changed the slogan to, "abortion is homicide." That's much harder for the pro-abortionists to contradict, and it really gets to the heart of the matter: acknowledging the dignity and inviolability of ALL Humans, no matter how weak or "expendable" they might seem to be. Sent at: 2008 07 04