What would you say in response to a conservative abortion clinic protestor who makes the same argument youāre making? āIt was ethically necessary for me to kidnap the doctor who was about to start their shift at Planned Parenthood. Yes, itās normally illegal to kidnap people, but those babies* were in imminent danger of being killed by the doctor, and itās permissible to break laws to avoid a forseeable imminent harm.ā (*The conservative protestor believes that fetuses have equal moral status to babies, the same way you and I believe that pigs have equal moral status to dogs.)
A better analogy of non violent direct action would be breaking in to disable the clinicās capabilities to provide abortions (without harming anybody).
In this case, the protesters would be subject to the same penalties under the law that the Ridglan protesters are. That being said, there is a case that what is happening to the dogs is illegal (311 counts of animal cruelty documented already). Iām wary of an appeal to authority bias hereājust because they are not enforcing the law doesnāt mean what Ridglan is doing is legal. As pointed out, the necessity defense is being tested here, and has reason for consideration.
What would you say in response to a conservative abortion clinic protestor who makes the same argument youāre making? āIt was ethically necessary for me to kidnap the doctor who was about to start their shift at Planned Parenthood. Yes, itās normally illegal to kidnap people, but those babies* were in imminent danger of being killed by the doctor, and itās permissible to break laws to avoid a forseeable imminent harm.ā (*The conservative protestor believes that fetuses have equal moral status to babies, the same way you and I believe that pigs have equal moral status to dogs.)
Kidnapping somebody would be a violent action.
A better analogy of non violent direct action would be breaking in to disable the clinicās capabilities to provide abortions (without harming anybody).
In this case, the protesters would be subject to the same penalties under the law that the Ridglan protesters are. That being said, there is a case that what is happening to the dogs is illegal (311 counts of animal cruelty documented already). Iām wary of an appeal to authority bias hereājust because they are not enforcing the law doesnāt mean what Ridglan is doing is legal. As pointed out, the necessity defense is being tested here, and has reason for consideration.