It is really late and I'm exhausted so please forgive any and all stupid things that I type. I was sitting here thinking about life and ethics and it ocurred to me that I might like to pick your brains a little bit seeing as how this is an excellent forum for discussion.

I am not trying to prove a point here (hard to believe, I know), but as someone who believes that human life ought to be preserved at almost any cost, it has in the past been difficult for me to understand why others do not feel the same way. So tell me. Why is/isn't life sacred to you?

I cannot remember what ethical philosophy states that if an action

1. increases/doesn't decrease happiness or
2. decreases/doesn't increase suffering

it is ethical. Would that mean that to murder a friendless, suffering person is ethical because it decreases suffering? Or that to abort any unwanted pregnancy that gives a woman physical or emotional pain is also ethical? Does this only apply to fetuses that have no feeling and cannot suffer or feel happiness? If no one would suffer as the result of a death, is it still unethical to fail to try and preserve the life or to snuff it out?

Not very profound, I know. I would still like to hear your thoughts.