As of an example with an egg I have an easy answer. The probability of an egg becoming a human is much much lower without fertilization.
I don’t think you’re answering the question DanielLC wanted to ask. I think the question is more like this: If you refrain from fertilizing an egg (say, in some random woman walking by on the street), isn’t that as bad as committing murder?
I meant that there’s some chance the egg will be fertilized, and if you prevent that from happening, are you killing it?
Granted, the probability decreases gradually until the egg is ejected or whatever it does, but you could make an abortion method that works the same way. You continuously do something that’s harmful to the fetus. The probability of it surviving decreases gradually.
If I’m following this, it’d be a few percent as bad as murder—the odds of attempted fertilization successfully leading to a new human are not all that great. But that still implies that skipping twenty or so opportunities to attempt fertilization (assuming no externalities) is equivalent to killing one adult human, which is a fairly bizarre conclusion to come to.
I don’t think you’re answering the question DanielLC wanted to ask. I think the question is more like this: If you refrain from fertilizing an egg (say, in some random woman walking by on the street), isn’t that as bad as committing murder?
I meant that there’s some chance the egg will be fertilized, and if you prevent that from happening, are you killing it?
Granted, the probability decreases gradually until the egg is ejected or whatever it does, but you could make an abortion method that works the same way. You continuously do something that’s harmful to the fetus. The probability of it surviving decreases gradually.
If I’m following this, it’d be a few percent as bad as murder—the odds of attempted fertilization successfully leading to a new human are not all that great. But that still implies that skipping twenty or so opportunities to attempt fertilization (assuming no externalities) is equivalent to killing one adult human, which is a fairly bizarre conclusion to come to.