NC
” I don’t think any significant portion of the goyish world views that issue the same way we do.”
100% correct and this gets lost on many in our circles making these conversations strange.
for example IITFT’s response.
We and secular culture are coming from two opposite starting positions.
One the hallmarks of modern society, and medical ethics in particular is autonomy, specifically to allow patients to make decisions about themselves, or people to make decisions about themselves.
“Pulling the plug” isn’t controversial in secular society, as long as that is what the patient (or their family if the patient’s wishes aren’t known) wants. The only time those situations get controversial is if their are conflicting opinions as what patients would want, as in Terri Sciavo’s case.
Abortion is a bit dicier because there the Patient (ie the woman’s) decision affects another (ie the fetus). So in that case it depends on when life begins if it begins at birth, the mother is free to due with her limb (in Talmudic parlance “yerech imo” ) as she pleases . If life begins at conception then her autonomy is challenged by the fetus’s and abortion would not be ok ( proponets of this position are often “stuck” with what to do in extraordinary cases where most of society would support abortion, why in those cases taking a life is ok, very few are consistent and say ALL abortions are forbidden )
Halacha lehavdil takes a very different starting point.
People are NOT autonomous. We do not have baylus over our bodies. A person cannot just “pull the plug” because he has had enough. A person can’t tatoo their body, A person can’t wound themselves, they cant cut of their limb nor abort their fetus. This is why our exceptions are broader than societies . cutting yourself (ie surgery) is allowed in certain cases, is Plastic surgery allowed, thats between you an your Rav. abortion too is allowed in certain (obviously fewer) cases, what are those cases? that is between a woman and her Rav.
Relying on Secular ethists or medical practitioners wont work, becasue the whole starting point is different and incompatible.
(note: for bnei noach the last paragraph isn’t completly right, (ie for them a fetus might be a life ) but our number one concern should be klal yisorel)