Zoe's law

Wei Hong commented on ST’s link:

The Sydney Morning Herald Zoe's law 'misogyny', say NSW protesters 17 October 2013 Decriminalising abortion in NSW will be harder if controversial changes to the Crimes Act, known as Zoe's law, are passed, critics say.

Unlawful foetal loss is already covered under the definition of “grievous bodily harm,” which attracts a comparable penalty to the “Zoe's Law version 2” bill. Therefore, the proposed law serves no significant practical effect other than to advance a pro-life ideology.

(It is also interesting that Ms Donegan is campaigning for recognition of legal personhood for foetuses beyond 20 weeks gestation yet also identifies as being pro-choice. The potential discordance here can be rationalised by affirming Judith Jarvish Thomson’s “violinist” argument.)

First World reasoning

From debate on CY's wall:

POP 101 - Overpopulation is a myth  www.overpopulationisamyth.com A primer on the future of planet Earth

The "Overpopulation is a myth" website correctly argues the entire world population can fit within Texas while still having reasonable accommodation. It conveniently neglects to mention the glaring fact that one cannot actually stay alive in an accommodation without additional supporting land for agriculture, energy, and other basic resources. According to the 2010 Global Footprint Network data, while everyone could squeeze into Texas, it would require multiple earths to provide them with a Western standard of living. A single earth could provide a standard of living around that of Ghana (assuming no other species compete for the same resources), where according to 2006 World Bank data, more than half live on less than $2/day, and 90% live on less than $5/day.

The "Overpopulation is a myth" correctly argues that the world fertility rate is decreasing and could eventually reach sub-replacement levels. Unfortunately, by the above definition, overpopulation has already occurred and will continue to worsen over the upcoming decades. According to 2012 UN projections, overpopulation will improve after 2050, under the best-case scenario. Under the average-case scenario, it will not improve in the foreseeable future.

"Overpopulation is a myth" is a myth.

References

▪ Global Footprint Network - Data and Results 

▪ The World Bank - Poverty & Equity Data 

▪ United Nations - World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision 

Civil union myth

The Canberra Times Same-sex marriage is an oxymoron 22 October 2013 You cannot equate something that is essentially different, Monsigner John Woods writes.

Msgr Woods is incorrect in claiming that "same sex civil unions now afford couples the same rights as for married couples." Civil unions in Australia are only available in certain states and do not have federal recognition. This creates problems in areas including interstate, federal service and non-governmental sectors.

Slippery slope fallacy

Slippery slope arguments in isolation are equivalent to saying "you shouldn't eat any apples because if you ate 1000 a day, you would die."

Abortion loophole

Discussion on AL’s wall:

Herald Sun Doctor risks his career after refusing abortion referral 5 October 2013 A doctor risks being deregistered because he allegedly refused a referral for an Indian couple who wanted to abort a healthy unborn baby girl at 19 weeks, simply because they wanted a boy.

There exists a loophole in Victorian law. We do not allow sex selection during IVF, but then we allow sex selection after implantation. Countries such as China where sex selection is more common face growing social problems due to gender imbalance.

Critical savvy

Discussion on ST’s wall:

PRWeb UK Ancient Confession Found: 'We Invented Jesus Christ' 8 October 2013 Biblical scholars will be appearing at the ‘Covert Messiah’ Conference at Conway Hall in London on the 19th of October to present this controversial discovery to the British public.

While people commented on how silly the article is, a New Atheist friend said that such reinterpretation of old data is no different from what other religions and denominations do.

WH: Nevertheless, some interpretations remain better than others. Don't pay retail for two-bit (25 cents) conspiracy theories when they're actually a dime (10 cents) a dozen :p. Atwill's claim depicted on PRWeb (not actually a real news site but rather a press release service) is not only 8 years old, but far from the only supposed "discovery" that Christianity is fake.

The New Atheist friend repeated the aphorism that because humanity has been wrong about many other gods, it is no big deal to go one step further in disbelieving Christianity.

WH: That there are multiple secular theories on the origin of the universe, for example, does not translate into an argument that they must all be wrong.