American view of infants: American law states that an infant out of the womb is a person. That means the baby is considered a human being by US law.

Questions for Later Discussion: --Why are laws different in different places? --Who creates laws?

Questions for Later Discussion: --Are laws the same as morality (i.e. being good)? --Should we obey the law?

Questions for Later Discussion: --Is there a time when we should break the law? If so what when and why?

Questions for Now and Later Discussion: --What can laws tell us about a culture? I’m going to give you some silent thinking time. At the end, I want to hear your best guess.

--the people “accept” the law. Therefore, the people “agree” with the law. Here’s something (else?) we can infer from a given culture’s laws that:

Consider: If a law is completely unacceptable to the people the government will have difficulty enforcing/keeping the law. Therefore, the law will eventually go away.

Consider: In a government such as a democracy, which means “rule by the people,” the people come up with the laws. Therefore, the fact that a law exist tells us something about those people.

Mr. Barber’s point: Because the US law states that a newborn is a person, this provides evidence that people in the US also believe that a newborn is a person.

Now really stretch your thinking! In recent US history we see a fierce legal battle concerning the question of when life begins. (Pro-life vs. Pro-choice).

Question: What can the fact that in recent US history there has been a fierce legal battle about when life begins tell us about the current American viewpoint concerning when life begins?

Mr. Barber’s thought: It can tell us that Americans are struggling over the answer to this question.