Is A Fetus A Person?

1145 Words3 Pages

Abortion is a decision every person should decide for themselves. The major arguments against abortion are how a fetus is a person; a fetus has rights; and it is morally impermissible to take a life. Many consider abortion to be equivalent to murder. However, a fetus is not a person. There are important traits one most hold to be a person, 1) self-awareness, one must be able to make decisions regarding themselves 2) being able to converse with others and hold a relationship 3) consciousness, one must be able to make rational decisions and have thought (Warren). On important aspect of being person is the ability to be aware of its surroundings and decision making. Being a pregnant is not a situation everyone gets to experience and the decision to abort a pregnancy should be left up to the women. A woman has a right to her body and should be able to make decisions concerning herself with no outside judgment.

When deciding if abortion is morally permissible the strongest argument is that fetuses are innocent beings and killing an innocent being is morally impermissible. Any being descending from a human makes it a human, and therefore a fetus is human. As a society we see murder to be immoral especially of an innocent person. Pro-life supporters argue that abortion is equivalent murder because life starts at conception, making a fetus a living person. Supporters believe a fetus has a right to live and wants to live. Abortion goes against the fetus’ right to live and it’s potential to become a member of society. It is the mother’s duty as a parent to provide for the child the best way possible, and that does not involve abortion.

However, a fetus does not hold the necessary characteristics to being a person. The first of that is ...

... middle of paper ...

...as right for her to have a child.

There will never be a universal answer to whether a fetus is a person or not. Going by the traits that make a person, a fetus is not considered a person. It is not living, it cannot make rational thought and it cannot communicate with others. Therefore, the decision to have an abortion is permissible and does not infringe on any persons right. A woman has a right to body and has the choice to have an abortion if she feels necessary. The argument to whether abortion is permissible relies on one’s beliefs to what makes a person. If one believes life starts at conception, then they would perceive abortion as being morally wrong. Those that follow specific traits that make a person, find abortion permissible. The issue is determined not by one view, but many. That is why there will never be any one answer to the morality of abortion.

Show More
Related

  • A Defense Of Abortion By Judith Jarvis Thomson

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    First I will prove premise 1, “Every fetus is a person,” true. The definition of person according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is "a human being." Now surely no one would regard a fetus as anything other than human such as a primate or dog. But some still might say, "Well, it isn't aliv...

    Read More

  • Pro-Choice Abortion: A Woman's Right to Privacy

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pro-choice activists only focus on the positives of being able to choose whether a woman can keep her baby. They don’t look at the risks that come with abortion like “shame, guilt, and regret” (Chittom & Newton, 2015). Abortion doesn’t only effect a woman mentally, but also physically. There is a possibility of death or complications when having an abortion. Anything can go wrong even if it is rare for it to happen. I don’t believe a woman should put her physical health at risk in order to kill her own baby. It sound harsh saying the word “kill”, but that is the reality. Pro-choice supporters try to shy away from using phrases like “killing” and “baby” because of how harsh it sounds. They would rather use words like “fetus”, “embryo” and “annihilate”. Using those word make the reality of killing an innocent baby seem less harsh. They bring up reasons to support their stance like stating that “a woman must have the power to control a decision as significant as parenthood, and that individuals should be able to influence decisions to the same extent that those decisions affect their lives” (Anderson, 2015). Their reasoning isn 't good enough. A woman can have the power to make her own decisions at another time. She can decide many things for herself, but abortion shouldn 't be one of

    Read More

  • Pro Life And Pro-Choice: The Pros And Cons Of Abortion

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abortion is a very controversial and sensitive topic in today’s society. Two different sides to this argument is pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life proponents believe in the right to life for unborn fetuses saying that abortion should be considered murder regardless of how far along in the pregnancy the woman is. Pro-choice advocates people who believe the woman carrying the fetus should be able to make her own decision on aborting the fetus.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Don Marquis Views On Abortion

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    But, there are many differences between an actual person and a fetus. First of all, a fetus is completely dependent on the mother. Fetus’s need their mothers in order to be fed correctly, to live in a stable environment, and to grow and expand among many other things. Because the fetus cannot survive on its own, then it does not qualify as a human being. In addition, a fetus that is still inside the womb is only a potential person. The fetus resides inside of the mother, and thus is part of the mother herself until it is born. Another difference between a fetus and a person is that a person can feel pain. Anti abortionist commonly argue that abortion is wrong because it would cause pain to the fetus. But, according to Mark Rosen, an obstetrical anesthesiologist at the University of California at San Francisco, “the wiring at the point where you feel pain, such as the skin, doesn’t reach the emotional part where you feel pain, in the brain.” Furthermore, the thalamus does not form until week 28 of the pregnancy. So, no information, including pain, can reach the cortex in the brain for processing. These facts prove that a fetus would not be affected by the mother’s choice of having an abortion, thus proving Marquis and all other anti-abortionists wrong.

    Read More

  • The Argument Of Judith Jarvis Thomson's View On Abortion

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    (1) The fetus is a person (or moral equivalent) (2) It is wrong to kill persons (C) It is wrong to have an abortion. But there is a suppressed premise needed to make the argument work because the mother also has a right to her own body (bodily integrity). As it stands the

    Read More

  • Pro Life Rhetorical Analysis

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pro-life rhetoric concludes, that the unborn child is not human, or alive. According to Francis Beckwith, in “Politically Correct Death” “ One begs the question whenever one assumes what one is trying to prove. To cite an example, abortion advocates who argue that abortion is justified because a woman should have the right to "control her own body" are assuming that there is only one body involved in the abortion act that of the woman.” This is the point they are trying to prove. Or, the popular assertion, "No one knows when life begins, so abortion should remain legal." But to argue that no one knows when life begins, and that abortion must remain legal through all nine months of pregnancy, assumes that life does not begin before birth the exact point the abortion advocate is trying to make. Then, there is the well known "back alley" argument that asserts American women will die by the millions if abortion is restricted in any way. But unless you begin with the assumption that the unborn child is not human, this argument is more or less to saying, "Because some people are killed attempting to murder others, the state should make it safe and legal for them to do so."

    Read More

  • Abortion: Where Has Morality Gone?

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    While deciding whether to be pro-life or pro-choice, many people consider the moral aspect of abortion and its consequences.  On the pro-choice side, a woman should have the right to choose whether or not she wants to give birth. The argument is that it is her body and she is the one who will have the responsibility of caring for that child.  The problem, however, with this argument is that it does not take into consideration whether abortion is right or wrong, and it does not deal with the morality of the issue.  However, the arguments of the pro-life side may be more correct simply because they make a moral judgment.  In Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, abortion is defined as the "termination of a pregnancy often accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of an embryo or fetus.

    Read More

  • Is Abortion Morally Permissible or Not?

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    To fully understand the argument we should first define the parameters of the debate and the key ideas held by each side. Throughout this essay I will be using the terms conservative and liberal as defined by Singer (p. 125) to refer to either side of the debate. The argument usually centers on whether or not a foetus qualifies as a person-- a complex, self-aware being with future-orientated preferences (Study Guide, p. 20)-- those on the conservative side usually argue that a foetus is a person, or at least potential person, and as a result liken abortion to murder, while those on the liberal side tend to refute the proposed personhood of a foetus. Both Singer and Warren agree that human development is a gradual process and it is impossible to pin point an exact stage where personhood is attained (Singer, p. 129, Study Guide, p.187), however it is clear, at least, that this happens somewhere in early childhood, and that while in utero the foetus only qualifies as a merely conscious being (Singer, p. 136). While I personally agree that a foetus is by no means a person and possesses none o...

    Read More

  • The Constitutional Issue of Abortion

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Regardless of the fact of morals, a woman has the right to privacy and choice to abort her fetus. The people that hold a "pro-life" view argue that a woman who has an abortion is killing a child. The "pro-choice" perspective holds this is not the case. A fetus is not yet a baby. It does not posses the criteria derived from our understanding of living human beings.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Abortion

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    George, the authors discuss about how abortion is morally wrong. According to the authors “human embryos and fetuses are complete (though immature) human beings”. Then they address counter arguments that human embryos are not the same a person because they are not conscious as a person is. The authors respond that human embryos have the “natural capacities” although less developed to reason, therefore according to the authors it makes no sense to say at which point an embryo becomes a person. And the authors conclude that the burden to carry out a pregnancy is less than “killing” the fetus. I also think that is not right to try to label an embryo as a human organism or not a person, it is a human person and it has a right to live. But you cannot force women to carry out a pregnancy they do not want, and no one should have a right to claim over their

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Abortion

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abortion has been a controversial topic in the U.S ever since it became legal in 1973 after the Roe v. Wade case. Abortion is defined as the, “the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.” Pro-life supporters believe that abortion is unethical and argue that it is the mother’s responsibility to own up to her actions. They also argue that there is always the option of adoption, and that abortion could be very dangerous. I am pro-life and believe that the government doesn’t have the right to decide what a woman can or can’t do with her body.

    Read More

  • Abortion Is Morally Permissible

    2044 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is almost unanimously agreed upon that the right to life is the most important and sacred right possessed by human beings. With this being said, it comes as no surprise that there are few issues that are more contentious than abortion. Some consider the process of abortion as immoral and consisting of the deprivation of one’s right to life. Others, on the opposite end of the spectrum, see abortion as a liberty and a simple exercise of the right to the freedom of choice.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Abortion Essay

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    Abortion is an extremely controversial issue and one that is continually on the forefront of debates. Those who oppose the idea (Pro-lifers), thinks it is an act of woman playing “God” who live from who dies. Yet, whether an unborn baby constitutes a normal person is questionable; a pregnant woman, on the other hand, has the undeniable right to choose whether she wants to have a child or not. Therefore, the decision to have an abortion is the personal choice and responsibility of the woman, because prohibiting abortion impedes freedom of choice and endangers the physical and mental health of women.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Abortion

    2054 Words  | 5 Pages

    Abortion has been one of the most talked about topics in society just about anywhere from television, magazines, whether or not it should be the right or wrong thing to do. Abortion is a very sensitive issue to discuss, because of its nature. Many people have said that abortion is a very bad thing to do and it should not even be choice whether or not to abort a living fetus. People think that abortion is committing murder as it is killing the human fetus. However, others feel that a woman should have a voice and have the right to choose to keep the child or not and that it is not murder until the baby is born. Majority of individuals who believe that abortion is bad say that the fetus is human who is partly being formed and to have an abortion is considered to be murder. For the people who think an abortion is ok, say that it’s not considered murder unless the child is born. I believe that abortion should be seen in which the stage the fetus is in. if the fetus is in an early stage of pregnancy it is not considered murder, but if the fetus has already began to develop into a larger fetus then it is indeed considered to be murder. There are times when abortion can be accepted, if the mother is having complications due to pregnancy. For example if the mother is enduring complications in her pregnancy that can harm her, because of the child in that case it is ok to perform an abortion to help save the mother’s life. It is also very important to understand this type of situation. The mother has the right to have an abortion and it is her decision because a mother knows best about her health conditions.

    Read More

  • Position Paper On Abortion

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abortions have always been a very controversial topic. Over the years we continue to fight for or against it. One can say that is one of the most talked and argued topic in the United States. An abortion is when a woman terminates her pregnancy before the fetus is viable using various of methods. Some argue that abortions should be illegal and considered murder, while others, from a religious point of view, say that no one has the right to take away the life of a person, in this case the fetus. However, others insist, that abortions are a basic women’s right.

    Read More

More about Is A Fetus A Person?

Open Document