Science

I made no moral argument in my previous post. In fact, I made very little argument at all, except to say government should tread lightly. You seem to either imply that science is amoral or that it has power to create, modify or govern its own morality in some way. In addition to that, your basis for "morality" is American law? I find that position interesting, since even in a mostly just and good nation such as America, unjust and immoral law still exists. Morality, while difficult to define in the terms you seem to propose, arises from certain core qualities or aspects of life such as reason(Rand), revelation (Augustine), sexual desire (thanks Freud), or a combination (not of sexual desire)(Aquinas). My point isn't to get into the particulars of those ideas, and obviously it is much more complicated than how I just presented it. What I do mean to say is that abortions are not moral because they are legal. That justification is both curious and weak. (Similarly, this cuts against your argument made in August of '04 that the illegality of cannabis does not make it immoral.) I would submit that the reason abortions are legally accepted despite a slim popular majority that opposes them is that the Burger/Blackmun court constantly engaged in ridiculous sentimentalism and was not concerned with the constitution, precedent or legal restraint (Perhaps a bit to strong, but nonetheless) I find Blackmun to possibly have the weakest legal mind of any SCOTUS justice I have ever encountered. (On a side note, you note that Bush's "law" is mundane, which I think is a fantastic compliment. The best laws are always mundane. If a law is exciting or passionate, it is often bad.)

The point is that science is incapable of governing itself, and can always claim to have another discovery on the horizon if only this or that sacrifice could be made. As a method, I have no difficulty in the ability of morality to trump science in cases like this one. In the modern West, it has fallen to government to take this role. Science is often at its best when it practices a sort of reasoned restraint, in my view. This is especially true regarding this matter.