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Life and Death: Abortion and the Death Penalty

in the people community as we know of human beings, many argue the fetus is not a ôpersonö at the moment of conception and, subsequently, does not have the typical ôright to lifeö associated as a primary right of human beings, (Bedau, p. 177). If a fetus does not have such rights, then AbbyÆs views on early-stage abortion are not in jeopardy of being considered ômurder,ö are no life is taken in such procedures due to this definition.

In the typical Pro-Choice or pro-abortion argument, it is asserted that the fetus is not a person from the moment of conception and, therefore, is not ôa rational agentö or a ôsocial being,ö (Marquis, p. 184). This argument, like the Pro-Life argument, makes two primary assumptions: 1) the truth of any of these claims is quite obvious, and 2) establishing any of these claims is sufficient to show that an abortion is not a wrongful killing, (Marquis, p. 184). One can readily see that the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice perspectives of abortion are polar opposites, revolve around the definition of when the fetus represents a ôperson,ö and seem incompatible from a moral or ethical perspective. Therefore, those who view the fetus as having the ôright to lifeö and constituting full personhood will never view AbbyÆs views on early stage abortion as anything less than outright murder.

If we look at FeinbergÆs (p. 257) views of personhood, we see that the author believes there must be some measure or criterion that can be used to determine ôpersonhood.ö This measure or characteristic of ôpersonhoodö must be such that 1) no being can be a person unless he or she possesses that characteristic, 2) any being who possesses that characteristics is a person, and 3) it is precisely that characteristic that directly confers personhood on whoever possesses it, (Feinberg, p. 157). From FeinbergÆs definition of ôpersonhood,ö we see that Pro-Lifers and Pro-Choices use a different measure or crit...

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Life and Death: Abortion and the Death Penalty. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:59, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1710318.html