Alabama’s high court got it wrong
The Alabama decision to define an embryo as a child is invalid. A potential human being is not a human being in fact.
If one follows that sort of logic, then a live human being is a potential corpse and is not protected by law as a human being. A corpse has certain protections, but they are far different than those of a live human being.
A potential human being should not be assigned the same rights as a fully formed and nondependent living person.
How far will their right-to-life creed take their twisted logic? Are we to start saving ova from destruction because they are potential people?
What about sperm? Are sperm sacred and must be preserved for fear of killing a potential human being? Come on. Get real. Is masturbation then considered murder? Is a menstrual cycle negligent homicide?
Until a human is capable of life outside the womb, it is not completely and fully human. In vitro human zygotes are not human beings any more than a polliwog is a tadpole or a frog.
Potential simply is not enough to call an embryo a human. Much can go wrong before an eventual live birth.
Punishing potential parents by calling them murderers causes real harm.
Alabama is wrong. Not potentially wrong but, in fact, contemporarily wrong.
Their supreme court does not seem all that supreme to me or other rational people.
If they are so intent on saving human beings, maybe they can start by saving all those people who are dying from malnutrition and diseases. But, of course, that would take a lot more effort than making decrees about potential humans and potential parents.
Tom Beach
Waimea
Don’t cut funding for art in Hawaii
Protect and keep 1% of all capitol improvements dedicated to the arts in Hawaii. No downsizing.
This should remain unchanged by sticky legislative fingers, and the short-sighted individuals who are trying to change this law have to be taken to task. Do they not understand that both sides of our brains need sustenance.
The constitutional freedom of expression is closely related to the support for the arts, as the arts are an international language.
These skills are vital to all children’s growth and development.
To become an artist is as necessary as becoming a biologist or a mathematician. Music, dance, painting, film, poetry, writing — in short, all culture is needed to become a whole human being and is an essential part of our heritages.
Stop this monkey business right now. And we will not accept a watered-down version of this excellent law.
Toby S. Hazel
Hilo