Let's get this out of the way first: We all know this personhood crap on Fox News is just more cynical political angermongering. The problem, of course, is that BillO's incendiary rhetoric is already at least partly responsible for one doctor's execution, and now he seems to be targeting Democratic Senators Baldwin and Blumenthal.
Let's see how BillO feels when the table is turned. He asks the question at the very beginning about whether Senators wanting to end state-based abortion restrictions are executioners or is that unfair?
Are men who masturbate executioners or is that unfair?
The crux of O'Reilly's argument is that a fertilized egg has human DNA in it. News flash for BillO. Sperm has human DNA in it. An unfertilized egg has human DNA in it. Lots of it. So every time he gets himself off he's killing lots of potential people.
Rat bastard. All those spermpersons, tossed away for the sake of a fantasy and a quick pleasure tour down pornography lane.
Maybe it's time for a law to save the sperm, and the human race from extinction too! How many little persons has BillO sacrificed for his own personal pleasure? We all know men just want to get off without thinking about consequences, after all. Am I right?
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Obviously that last section was pure snark, but it's fact-based snark. Sperm and egg both contain human DNA before fertilization. The fact that a fertilized, unimplanted egg also carries human DNA is absolutely and utterly meaningless. This argument that a fertilized egg is somehow a person before implantation is as absurd as the contention that a sperm somehow earns personhood by carrying human DNA. By that logic, saliva and skin cells are also personhood candidates.
As you'll see in the brief clip above, Kirsten Powers has now been yanked back into line after her momentary lapse into sanity last week. She joins the clamoring stupid, claiming that Democrats just want unfettered access to murder potential babies carrying that human DNA.
That is just as absurd as saying men want to get themselves off without thinking about consequences. Because there are no consequences. No hairy palms. No dead little spermpersons. Just the joy of the moment.
Notre Dame philosophy professor Gary Gutting put some critical thought into these crazy tropes, and concluded there is no rational basis to claim personhood on the basis of the presence of human DNA. His conclusion:
The above analysis does not settle the vexed question of abortion. That would require answering the question of what makes a person a person. But the analysis does show that those who do not agree that a fertilized egg is a person cannot argue that abortion is wrong because an embryo or fetus has human DNA. To maintain a strong anti-abortion position, they must find some other reason for thinking that abortion is murder.
However, I'm unwilling to surrender the possibility that Bill O'Reilly might be an executioner, given his role in Dr. Tiller's assassination.
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