and starting with insects makes it easier for transition to torturing of sentient beings. It isn't about what a cockroach feels (lets hope not much), it is about what doing it to cockroach does to the mentality of the one who does it.
What happens in the labs must stop. And one of the sure way to do it is to not let children to grow into torturers.
I am torn about medical experiments on animals but I think the distinction needs to be made between what happens in a lab (with ethical frameworks) and what happens in civilian life for entertainment.
that distinction exists only for us, ie. ones who do it. It doesn't exist for subjects of our actions. Refusal to understand it that is so widespread trough the society is a major roadblock in development of emphatic ability which is the key to triggering the next qualitative stage of the human species brain development.
I don't want to start a comment war, but your reasoning is a big part of why I'm against abortion. I would truely be interested to know how the views on the cockroach/torture folks overlap (or not) with their thoughts on abortion.
we start as a lump of quickly dividing cell, a tumor of a kind. We progress though fish-stage, reptile, etc... Different people have different decency standards wrt. killing and torture of living organisms. As we know the society-wide the standard is pretty low - everything, except humans in majority of situation, can be killed and everything, except (thanks God for animal rights people) majority of mammals in majority of situations, tortured. My personal standard as of now is that killing of insects/fish ok, reptiles and birds - don't like it, yet still somewhat ok, and no killing for mammals, and no torture for anybody (at least what i can perceive as a torture). Thus i personally think the abortion is ok up to about week 6-7.