Debate

Debate Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) Tackles the Abortion Debate

Cinders posted on Nov 02, 2007 at 08:21PM
An interesting excerpt from a transcript of the episode "One Day, One Room" from the TV show House. I saw this dialogue and I thought it was interesting, and want to know what you guys think. Anyways, Dr. House has just informed a rape victim (Eve) that she is pregnant.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

HOUSE: Do you understand? Are you okay? I mean, I know you're not okay, but
are you more or less not okay than you were five minutes ago?

EVE: About the same.

HOUSE: Good. The termination procedure isn't pleasant.

EVE: I don't want to terminate.

HOUSE: You want to keep the baby?

EVE: Abortion is murder.

HOUSE: True. It's a life, and ... You should end it.

EVE: Every life is sacred.

HOUSE: Come on. Talk to me. Don't quote me bumper stickers.

EVE: It's true.

HOUSE: It's meaningless.

EVE: It means every life matters to God.

HOUSE: Not to me, not to you. Judging by the number of natural disasters, not
to God either.

EVE: You're just being argumentative.

HOUSE: Yeah! I do do that. What about Hitler? Was his life sacred to God?
Father of your child, is his life sacred to you?

EVE: My child isn't Hitler.

HOUSE: Either every life is sacred, or it--

EVE: Stop it! I don't wanna chat about philosophy.

HOUSE: You're not killing your rape baby because of a philosophy.

EVE: It's murder. I'm against it. You for it?

HOUSE: Not as a general rule.

EVE: Just for unborn children?

HOUSE: Yes. The problem with exceptions to rules is the line-drawing. It
might make sense for us to kill the ass that did this to you. I mean, where do
we draw the line? Which asses do we get to kill, and which asses get to keep on
being asses? The nice thing about the abortion debate is that we can quibble
over trimesters, but ultimately, there's a nice, clean line: birth. Morally
there isn't a lot of difference. Practically huge.

EVE: You're enjoying this conversation.

HOUSE: This is the type of conversation I do well.

EVE: But the other type ... the personal stuff?

HOUSE: (shrugs) There are no answers. If there are no answers, why talk about
it? You're healthy. You shouldn't be here.

EVE: I don't want to go.

HOUSE: Fine. I won't discharge you.

Debate 6 جوابات

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پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک greekthegeek said…
lol i love House. but he can be stubborn

very funny
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک TweenaCat said…
Good dialogue. I should watch that show.

I think that if people can painfully kill, for example, a spider, then they can painlessly kill a baby that is about as big as a spider. And the baby doesn't have any children who depend on it to feed them flies (Or do child spiders not depend on their parents? I'm really not too familiar with a spider's everyday life. Is there a chance I'm getting carried away here?)

Well, anyway, as I understand, the religious view (well, the Christian view) is that animal souls are more material than humans and their souls do not go to heaven or hell like human souls do, therefore it is acceptable to eat meat or kill spiders. Human life is more precious because God created all humans for a purpose. By this argument, God meant for the baby to be concieved and therefore God meant for a rape victim to be raped. What this makes me wonder is, what if God meant for the baby to be "murdered"? If God meant for the woman to be raped, maybe he meant for the woman's baby to be killed. After all, if he allows something as devastating as rape, why shouldn't he allow murder?

I suppose the point was that God doesn't mess with free will and that's why rape is allowed. But that means that the rapist's free will to rape someone was what allowed the baby to be concieved, and it was out of God's hands. It was not something he planned, it was something that happened because of freedom of will. Effectively, it was an "accident". Therefore the baby was not neccessarily created for a purpose by God, and possibly might grow up with a single parent who neglects it or does not love it. So perhaps God created abortion to solve problems like that. How can anyone know?
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک DrDevience said…
What worries me about these kinds of mind sets is that the rape victim is arguing to not abort because she thinks she should... not because she wants or will love that baby.

At that point in the pregnancy there is no life by pretty much everyone's standards. Yes, yes, yes... there are factions that argue point of conception, but they are a very small percentage of the population.

My stance is that if she wants that baby and can love it and raise it without transferring her feelings towards the rapist onto it, then by all means complete the pregnancy. If not, then either put the child up for adoption, or abort.

پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک nonames said…
I love this show....it was a great episode too....everyone should watch it

P.S. Tweenacat i like ur theory...too bad most Christians cant figure that thought process out
last edited پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک kateliness2 said…
I think House is a little crazy from this dialogue (although I've never seen the show.)

And, Tweena: I am a devout Catholic, also a vegetarian and I can't whack a fly if it comes into the room. I catch bugs (I actually have little cups in most rooms to do so) and let them outside.

I don't believe that it is my decision to take away any life, whether child in uterus or criminal on death row or spider in my basement.
پہلے زیادہ سے سال ایک 501Venus said…
I watched the show.
Whether or not advocating for or against having a woman has the right to make the decision. She was pressured by House a man which to me is not acceptable. He's a drug addict that has abused not only drugs, but friends & verbally abused patients. He was on the verge of prison for having over 600 pills stealing by forging his friends' script pads. Yet if others did it, they'd be convicted & in prison.

Debate is from 2 different perspectives; influencing is allowing one to listen & believe that the person talking is more right than herself.

There's no countering POV from clergy or females supporting life. It's her that has to decide what's the best choice of action without any other support. SHE, not House will have to live with their decision for her lifetime. That's what bothered me. House's POV doesn't have the understanding or compassion as a woman.

This is a 1-time event can't ever be reversed. This isn't a house, car or getting plastic surgery can sell or change mind, once make the decision it's over. The rape unsure if got a rape kit, received any counseling from an SUV type of law enforcement and/or counselor at the hospital.

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