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Why can't I eat a fetus?

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FreshlyMinted

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I've asked this several times and never gotten a response.

If fetuses/embryos are undeserving of the same rights and protections as people then why can I not eat one?

Is it just because of social taboo (like dogs) or is there a deeper moral horror in such an act? If it is just a taboo, why are there no cultures in which eating an aborted/miscarried fetus considered okay (that's wasted protein!)? If it is a larger moral horror, explain how that shouldn't carry over to other protections?
 
Don't know. If you can get away with it, I'd say go for it. I'm thinking any good calamari recipe would be the way to go
 
Umm... there's not much there to eat to begin with. Most miscarriages or abortions happen when the fetus is barely an inch in length. You're much better off eating the placenta, which is actually done in some cultures.

Other than that, it's probably illegal for the same reasons you can't eat another human's liver or kidneys or heart. :shrug: It'd be a form of cannibalism.

Boy, am I glad I've already had dinner. :shock:
 

Dang, guess my paté will have to be "on the down-low"

Are you allowed to eat dead people if it was their dying wish to be eaten though? I think I remember hearing that somewhere...

Or how about, would you be allowed to eat the fetus with the mother's permission?

PS- I like your signature
 
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I've heard of people eating the placenta as pate'. I wouldn't do it--that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen outside a horror movie.
 
Rassales said:
I've heard of people eating the placenta as pate'. I wouldn't do it--that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen outside a horror movie.
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placenta yes, but unborn child, no. People eat lots of crazy stuff. From poop to placenta, from eyeballs to testicles. For some reason not fetuses and I'm just curious why that seems to be universally in bad taste.
 

There are laws regulating the use and disposal of dead bodies and body parts. Violating those can land you in jail.
 
FreshlyMinted said:
If fetuses/embryos are undeserving of the same rights and protections as people then why can I not eat one?
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Well, first off, you have to find a woman willing to donate her fetus to your menu.

Second, if it happened with any regularity here in the United States, I can guarantee you they'd ban it just as fast as they could.

Third, once you gut and clean a fetus there usually isn't much left for the eating unless you get one right when it's ready to pop.
 
FreshlyMinted said:
If fetuses/embryos are undeserving of the same rights and protections as people then why can I not eat one?
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Well that's just a silly question. It's not that you can't eat a fetus, it's that it takes 12 bowls of fetus to equal the nutritional value in one bowl of Total.
 
Dude, you guys are gonna get me fired..... I'm supposed to be working but I'm laughing out loud reading this!!!

Rabbit, you're priceless!!!
 
Note1: People eat each other all the time. It's called oral sex.

Note2: You are such a pervert. :mrgreen:
 
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Gee, I dunno. Probably for the same reasons you can't eat a dead body. Cannibalism is the taboo you are trying to obfuscate the abortion issue with this time.

It's very transparent.
 

Haha, so it's just a matter of ripeness?
 
jallman said:
Gee, I dunno. Probably for the same reasons you can't eat a dead body. Cannibalism is the taboo you are trying to obfuscate the abortion issue with this time.

It's very transparent.
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What is the literal definition of cannibalism? And can you not eat a dead body? I'm pretty sure that if someone is willing to donate their body to be used as food that it's alright.

Anyway, cannibalism is just taboo in most places. In some places the consuming of human flesh is a ritualistic practice. We often have ritualistic practices regarding sex and pregnancy and the consumption of a miscarried fetus seems like it would have been a practice by some culture at some time or another. Is it just coincidence that it didn't? Or is there some other reason behind it?
 
FreshlyMinted said:
What is the literal definition of cannibalism? And can you not eat a dead body? I'm pretty sure that if someone is willing to donate their body to be used as food that it's alright.
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The literal definition of cannibalism is "the practice of eating flesh of your own kind". Eating a fetus definitely falls into that category.

And I am pretty sure that no, you cannot donate your own body to be used as food. There are a whole host of regulations concerning the disposal of human remains that would be broken if that were attempted.


First of all, you are making an assumption that it hasn't happened. You cannot prove this because absence of proof is not proof of absence. And there have been reports of the ritual consumption of fetuses birthed from ritual sex abuse by obscure cults right here in the United States. As to the validity of these claims, that's up for debate. The pregnancies of young girls can be proven but without remains, it cannot be proven that the fetus was every ingested by human being even if the claim is made.

In any event, abortion is not the issue here. The taboo against cannibalism in a civilized society is the issue. You cannot eat a fetus because cannibalism is not accepted in our society.
 

You can eat the placenta, there are mothers who do. The reason you can't eat an aborted fetus is the same reason why you can't possess or eat organs or tissues removed from your body after surgery. They are medical specimens destined for a lab. Once they leave your body, they're not your property but property of the institution that removed them.

Also it's a bio hazard thing. Human tissue removed from the body can become infected by pathogens, which in turn can be transferred to living people if not isolated. There are laws in most places regulating human tissues.
 
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So why are the mothers allowed to eat their placentas?

Also, how about in the case of a miscarried fetus so no institution is involved
 
Can you find us an actual law where they made eating a fetus illegal?
 
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