Questions on the Fetus

It is a simplistic argument to state that because the fetus in a woman's womb is of human origin and is a living thing then therefore it is a human being. Very few people would disagree with such an argument. Or rather, very few people would disagree that the fetus is a being of human origin. However, to call the fetus a human being is to imbue it with certain rights, privileges and obligations that the fetus can neither recognize or fulfill. Consider, for example, what would happen if the fetus were situated in such a way that the mother's life was in danger. Could one then charge the fetus upon birth with the reckless endangerment of another human being's life? What if the mother dies? Is the fetus to be charged with murder?

The question remains "What does such an argument establish?" More than likely, the proponents of such an argument would use it to support their argument that abortion is wrong because it results in the death of a human being. But this argument ignores the fact that the fetus, even if it is a human being, is incapable of making its wishes known and is wholly unable to live on its own outside the mother's womb. Consequently, merely to argue that the fetus is a human being does not answer the question of what positive rights and privileges does such a human being have in relation to the rights and privileges of the human being in whose body it is housed or, indeed, to society in general.

Related Essays

Issue of Abortion .... abortion. One of the most important such questions regards the extent to which a fetus can be said to possess a right to life. If .... (1504 6 )

Moral Responsibility to Disobey Unjust Laws? .... would raise the question of the damage done to the fetus and the reference to the fetus as a "thing." Regardless of questions of viability, a fetus is organic .... (1169 5 )

Abortion as a Divisive Social/Political Issue .... The first is that the fetus is not a human being .... Eisenstein (1988) says the debate surrounding the abortion issue addresses questions about the woman's control .... (1942 8 )

Psyche Questions .... For if it remains untreated it can have a fatal impact on the fetus, with 25% of fetuses dying and those who survive having serious developmental problems like .... (4100 16 )

Abortion .... begins and who has the choice to end it are not easy questions to answer in .... definition, abortion is explained as the expulsion of a non-viable fetus during the .... (998 4 )

rnography. But she finds common ground between feminism and pornography: both establish women as sexual beings. She argues that both feminism and pornography have made sex an experience open to public examination and debate and feminist support for censorship will lead to a dead-end. She believes censorship will result in conservative governments and male-dominated courts and police controlling the sexual freedom and control for which women have fought. She argues that instead we must work "to repossess our sexuality, through sex education and the production of sex-positive imagery, and through changing the economic and social position of women and men--steps that will undermine the demand for sexist sexual imagery." The arguments put forth by Diamond and Cole largely establish the parameters of the debate surrounding feminist support or lack thereof for censorship of pornography. However, Anna Gronau also argues that feminists who support censorship tend to believe that images have a fixed meaning that can seduce viewers into imitative action. She calls this belief "dangerous" because she believes that it invests those who have the most power in society with the power to make us believe that images affect us. She ar

Category: Science - Q