“Every sperm is sacred” is one of those bad-faith arguments that abortion advocates bring up every once in a while; if life begins at conception, then men — especially white male pro-life legislators — had better keep better track of their sperm — never mind the fact that that’s not where conception begins. We could go into detail, but there are plenty of books on the subject. In short, it’s not human life.
But the Washington Post thought they had a thoughtful op-ed Wednesday arguing that if states are going to legislate what’s to be done with an aborted fetus, then they ought to go all the way and mandate that funerals be held for all spermatozoa.
Opinion: State legislators, stop being cowards.
Mandate state funerals for all spermatozoa. https://t.co/vf916j1Zc5
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 5, 2019
Alexandra Petri cites a bill in Pennsylvania that will never pass mandating death certificates for fertilized ova and writes that spermatozoa ought to be included as well:
A lone train must bear the remains from state to state, so that we may gather to pay our last respects. We must spare no cost. Flags must be lowered to half-staff. Dogs must howl. The governor must deliver a eulogy — the president, indeed, would be better. And, at last, the remains must be borne home in the highest honor, just as the legislators so thoughtfully wished for their brethren. I think, also, that stars should be placed in the windows of those who bear so great a loss; it is a simple matter of respect. We shall all hear the bell toll, and know — it tolls for these.
That’s cute. She didn’t mention that a female pro-choice state politician in Pennsylvania argued that “an early miscarriage is just some mess on a napkin.” More science.
Recommended
— Unaccountable BureauCat (@UnAcctBureaucat) December 5, 2019
Your biology teacher should be fired.
— ?It's?Almost ⛄️Christmas? (@jtLOL) December 5, 2019
First paragraph has two GLARING errors. In the same sentence. Ova can be fertilized via In Vitro Fertilization (aka test tube babies) and in the case of ectopic pregnancies which don't make it to the uterus from the fallopian tube (where most eggs are fertilized).
— Agent (@TheAgentSmithV3) December 5, 2019
And gametes (ova, spermatozoa) are not on the same moral standing as a separate and distinct human that an embryo/fetus is. Gametes have half the genetic info; an Embryo has both parental sets of genes (the full set of chromosomal pairs).
— Agent (@TheAgentSmithV3) December 5, 2019
The best part about this "clever" piece is that it fails to understand the basic difference between fertilized ova and just sperm
— Unaccountable BureauCat (@UnAcctBureaucat) December 5, 2019
Geez, I don't think this article could possibly sound any more sensational and euphemistic than it already is.
Also, there is no way in hell that a sperm cell is the same as a fertilized ova which is literally in the verge of becoming an embryo. Thanks for the comparison though.
— Diego Rivera ?? (@Riversonian) December 5, 2019
— James (@SantiagoTrad) December 5, 2019
The article is employing reductio ad absurdum. There’s a proposed bill in Pennsylvania to make women have funerals for aborted foetuses and miscarriages.
— MisreadBible✍? (@misreadbible) December 5, 2019
Agree but it is still employing a fallacious "apples and oranges" argument. A fetus is an actual human being while sperm is just seeds.
— Alan777 (@Alan77799514069) December 5, 2019
Leftist don’t understand sperm vs fertilized egg.
— Kai Sims (@Kai8Sims) December 5, 2019
No, they don’t. Remember when Jennifer Wright, political editor at large for Harpers Bazaar, actually tweeted this?
Anti-abortionists who refuse to see any difference between a fetus and a child must be very understanding if they ask for chicken and you give them a plate of eggs.
— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) April 16, 2018
Party of science, y’all!
False equivalence. Sperm are not genetically distinct from the father as a zygote is.
20 dollar fine.
— TFM (@the_f_m) December 5, 2019
Do you… Do you not understand the difference between a sperm/egg and a zygote?
— Kyler (@kwlibertas) December 5, 2019
Opinion: you should hire people who passed biology class to write for you.
— Kyle Beckley (@Kyle_Beckley) December 5, 2019
You utter spoons… pic.twitter.com/2Phb7UupX4
— Pixieprogrammer (@Pixieprogrammer) December 5, 2019
Biology is forgotten
— tugpepper (@tugpepper1) December 5, 2019
— Erik Manning (@Erik_Manning) December 5, 2019
This is literally a scene from Legally Blonde and it is both scientific and logical garbage.
— You Should Have Voted Gary (@colorblindk1d) December 5, 2019
Apparently the Post is embarrassed by their article. They keep it hidden under an ad. But I’m pretty sure whatever they wrote wasn’t worth paying for
— the chapel walls (@catholicgoat) December 5, 2019
Idiots.
Bold, obnoxious, profoundly pridefully ignorant idiots. https://t.co/5FdtpAf7m0— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) December 5, 2019
I tried reading this, but it was so 10th-grade, who could?
Except, of course, a 10th-grader would have remembered that spermatozoa do not form a new organism unless they fertilize an ova. Before? They're just cells. After? It's a new human with unique DNA.
— Ryan Drexel Rawson (@drexrawson) December 5, 2019
I thought the @washingtonpost could not lower my opinion of them….they allowed @petridishes to prove me wrong. Such utter lunacy…..even in opinion pieces, they are proving there is no bar to lower, no standard to be had….
— Ambassador Al (@alcsmithwow) December 5, 2019
The Washington Post will literally print anything. No standards. #journalism
— American Federalist Journal (@AmFedJournal) December 5, 2019
My God, the stupidity and ignorance of you people.
— JenBrooks (@JenBrooks727) December 5, 2019
Related:
'Dehumanizers gonna dehumanize': Pennsylvania Dem state rep explains that 'an early miscarriage is just some mess on a napkin' https://t.co/Fq2sfAkRc4 pic.twitter.com/n0mjQddSRd
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 1, 2019
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