All human abortions should be prohibited. The development of a human being cannot be ended simply at will anytime after fertilization takes place because fertilization is when a human life begins. Rape, does not qualify as a valid reason for an abortion. Neither does the health of the mother or child qualify as a valid reason.

If the woman’s health is in danger or the fetus is shown to have very severe physical or genetic damage that is likely to cause death, only passive euthanasia could be possibly be considered.

However, the natural mortality rates of blastocysts and zygotes are impressively high, with less than 50% of pregnancies naturally successfully graduating to the fetus stage of development. The complexity of the process of human biological reproduction and the incredibly small amounts of natural hormones and other chemical levels could potentially alter the success of the pregnancy at these early stages. In addition, minute changes in any of numerous other variables prevent us from ‘predicting’ the success or failure of any particular pregnancy because it cannot be separated from the statistical ‘noise’ during these early stages of development. As a result, it is easy to understand that natural processes are highly ‘risky’ to any conceived child (namely blastocysts and zygotes) and more likely than not (especially in the very early stages of development) to result in the natural abortion of the child.

Therefore, the term ‘human life’ should be applied to all human blastocysts and zygotes. Actions deliberately taken to induce abortions at these very early stages (anything from eating the wrong foods to taking abortifacient drugs), including taking drugs that prevent attachment to the uterine wall, could be treated as murder. However, trying to separate murderous intent from the statistical noise in any than the most conclusive of cases, is a very unwise commitment of resources.

As a result, abortion prosecution policies should be applied only when the statistical noise has settled down to a point where far more predictable statistical outcomes are known. This means that there is a significant ‘gray area’ within which predictable outcomes switch from being low enough to high enough. This would also be the boundary at which the application of government abortion regulations would also properly switch from being too arbitrary to being justified. Of course, if the mother and/or other ‘murderer’ has stated that their intention was to end the pregnancy, then charges could be brought against them at any time after conception.

Under this principle, unless evidence of an activity intended to lead to an abortion can be proven, “allowing” the aborting of a blastocyst (before its implantation on the uterine wall 5 to 9 days after fertilization) would raise the least controversy.

Since there are no definite markers during the rest of the pregnancy other than the beginning (fertilization and conception) and the end (birth), it appears that the only other alternative would be time limits measured from conception or, most likely, from the last menstrual cycle before conception.

Human abortion will always be in high demand because of the nature of the problem. People want convenience and pleasure and tend not to plan things out or think enough about the future. Shortcuts are so very appealing in many situations. Arguments for allowing abortion services are all grounded in unacceptable (namely, immoral) shortcuts. Some examples: 1) a baby would be a huge impact on unprepared parent(s), 2) sexual intercourse is such a common activity, 3) more dangerous illegal abortions would increase if legal abortion is prevented, 4) the resource demand on the courts would increase dramatically if legal abortions are banned, 5) social stability may be jeopardized if abortions are banned. All of these objections are unacceptable shortcuts. Instead, these problems should be addressed by requiring greater personal accountability of all parties involved.

In summary, human life begins at conception. People could take measures to prevent conception, but humans cannot be killed for convenience afterwards. The question, from a public policy perspective, is where the statistical noise is low enough to categorically prosecute people for aiding or undergoing an abortion procedure.

Active Euthanasia – Abortion After Birth

Abortions of human life after birth, or what would better be termed ‘active euthanasia’, should also not be allowed at any time after the birth of a child, with no maximum age limit.

Passive Euthanasia

Passive euthanasia, namely hospice care, should also be legalized. However, death should not be aided or accelerated, but life-extending medications and treatments could be withheld while maximum comfort is supplied until death occurs. This treatment would generally be given only to post-birth people, and most commonly used for the elderly and terminally ill.

Women attempting to become pregnant by in vitro fertilization should be limited to fertilizing and implanting one single egg at a time. If that egg fails to take hold and grow, then another single egg can be fertilized and implanted. Multiple eggs should never be fertilized, let alone, implanted simultaneously.

The biological parents of children should be financially responsible for all the needs of those children until they reach 20 years of age, unless those children have been permanently adopted by another family or unless the children (age 15 or over) are not enrolled in fulltime schooling (in which case the child is expected to fund at least some of his/her own living expenses). Child support (at least a small portion) must be provided to the child even if parents are separated, divorced, or chose to abandon the child, or pregnancy is the result of rape, or the child has been placed into foster care, etc. The current caretakers could sign a legal waiver renouncing the need or desire for child support obligations from the spouse, former spouse, or biological parents, but such renouncements can be revoked at any time during the first 20 years of the child’s life, provided that at least three full month’s warning of child support payments is issued to the parent who will be paying them.

Rapists should Pay Child Support
Whether a rape victim chooses to bear and raise the child or whether she chooses to give it up for adoption, the rapist should be forced to pay child support until the child is 20 years old. The rapist should not be allowed to initiate physical contact with the child until the child is old enough to understand and agrees to meet the father or unless the mother chooses to initiate contact with the father (rapist).

Sperm Donors Pay Child Support

All sperm donors should be required to pay 10% of child support to the recipients of the sperm. The donor has the right to require that only one egg be fertilized at a time to eliminate the chance of multi-fetus pregnancies. If the recipient of the sperm does not want this child support, the donor must still pay the same amount to the government or to some child related charity. These payments must continue until the child reaches 20 years of age.

However, the ideal policy would be to ban the buying and selling of sperm, eggs, etc. Nevertheless, exceptions could be made in extremely rare cases.

People who donate eggs or sperm or put their children up for adoption or who became a parent under any circumstance should not have the right or ability to withhold their identity from their children at any time in the future.

Pregnant mothers ought to be required by law to undergo physical examination by a pediatrician at least once during each of their trimesters of pregnancy to ensure the well being of the mother and the fetus. If any condition is found which must be monitored or addressed, adequate precautions, including euthanasia, may be taken.

The main components of human life (eggs, sperm, and the use of surrogates) should not be bought, sold (especially for profit) or perhaps even donated.

Gender Selection

People should have a right to choose the gender of their child but the costs should be based on the degree of deviation from the natural population birth ratio due to the use of gender selection methods throughout the population (the higher the deviation from normal the higher the fee would be to select that gender which is favored).

Genetic Modification

The genetic modification of human embryos for purposes of eliminating or reducing negative health  characteristics should be allowed.

Perhaps the modification of other traits which are not particularly relevant for health should be allowed but should also be heavily taxed to reduce the frequency of these options from occurring. Such a tax would not only reduce the speed at which such practices are adopted throughout society and allow for any long-term negative consequences to become visible before wider adoption occurs, but such a tax for something that is clearly a luxury would also be an element that helps make the tax code progressive.

Maternal names, not paternal names, should be the names that children bear because the mother is usually the parent that invests the most time, energy, and love into the offspring.

No health insurance or medical plan should be required to cover contraceptives or any types of birth control devices or procedures unless a valid medical or health reason exists to require the use of contraceptive devices or procedures. Contraception is generally an optional decision.

Arranged marriages should not be legally recognized if either the groom or bride was unwilling to marry their partner at the time of their wedding but did so under cultural pressure.

Only one person (either husband or wife, but not both) should need to agree to a divorce in order for them to qualify for a legal divorce.

The only things that should be made public in divorce records are full names (maiden name for ex-wives) of marriage partners, their ages, nationality or ethnic decent, political jurisdiction(s) in which both marriage and divorce occurred, last county or city of residence prior to divorce, date of marriage, length of marriage, number of marriage (1st, 2nd, etc.), number of children brought into the marriage and the number of children produced during marriage, the number of children (minors) and their ages at the time of the divorce, and a general reason or reasons for the divorce. Religious affiliation, education levels, occupation, and perhaps income levels should also be gathered.

These reasons for the divorce don’t have to be detailed, but they do need to be specific enough in order to fit into perhaps around 10 or 15 categories of the most common reasons for divorce. At a minimum, each person in the marriage needs to choose one or more categories that he/she identifies as causes for the divorce. (If more than one category is chosen, each category should be ranked.)

Among the categories should be one that allows a person the option to indicate that he/she is not a willing participant to the divorce and that he/she is willing to resolve whatever problems exist through counseling or other forms of help or personal effort. Another category should also provide the option to indicate whether he/she was forced to marry against their will.

The gathering of all these bits of information would provide a larger base of raw data which researchers could use to gather more information about and address the causes of divorce in society.

People who plan to get married should be required to read a booklet explaining all its ramifications (rights and responsibilities) and what would happen in case of divorce and several other eventualities. These people should then be required to pass a test on this material, preferably before marriage. Perhaps this should even be a requirement for all secondary school students to meet at some point prior to graduation. (Idea, in part, of Assemblywoman Hannah Beth Jackson, D – Santa Barbara. Los Angeles Times, 9-12-99)

Adults also, either as part of acquiring a marriage license or during the couple’s pregnancy, should be required to take similar classes on how to teach and raise children the correct way and how to prevent them from becoming spoiled and acquiring undesirable characteristics.

People should be classified as native belonging to a certain tribe, race, ethnic group, clan, etc., if they meet the requirement that they have at least a 1/4 blood quantum measurement. If there is a tie, such as 1/4 part x and 1/4 part y, then culture and lifestyle adoption, especially while as a young person under the age of 20, should be the deciding factor. However, even if a person is 1/4 part x, 1/4 part y and 1/2 part z, that person would have the right to choose among any of the three possibilities for their identity.