PZ Watch 03.03.11

PZ’s premise that dead babies are just meat is threatened by the Heartbeat test, which PZ discusses with his usual clarity: ridicule. But see if you can find a clear ethical or logical argument in his post, and let me know. I could not.

ADDENDUM:
I should have read further down. Here is PZ's argument:

And the bill is ridiculous. They want to prohibit all abortions of embryos that have a detectable heartbeat…but 1) heartbeat isn't a valid measure of personhood, and 2) pragmatically, it shuts down almost all abortions. The heart starts beating at approximately one month after fertilization; the woman may not have even noticed more than a delayed period at that time, and the early symptoms of some water retention and possibly morning sickness are unreliable. There will be many women who are responsible and want to end a pregnancy as early as possible who will be denied a first trimester abortion because it was too late when they were diagnosed!

Responsible women want the death of their progeny early on, that is the argument. Well, that and "personhood" is the milestone to shoot for, not life itself. Life is of no value - dead babies = meat, etc. So the Atheist defines "personhood" however is convenient for the eugenic termination of living humans in the unfortunate stage of development where they cannot fight back. It can be argued, and has been, that personhood doesn't occur until early adulthood, which is the stage where society's investment in the individual coincides with the individual's ability to contribute. Those without ability to contribute have no value at all. Hence the non-value of embryonic humans.

A side issue: if dead babies are just meat as PZ has declared, then surely PZ (who is not a vegetarian) would not be opposed to eating them, one would think. So does he? It would be a waste and sin against the planet not to. And the elderly too, although the elderly would be tough and stringy, like Mexican roping steers. Dead babies might be like veal, though, but without the social stigma of eating veal.