(June 18, 2014 at 11:32 am)Esquilax Wrote:(June 18, 2014 at 9:48 am)Jenny A Wrote: Whether a fetus is ever a person is an entirely separate question from what rights it might have, were it a person.
So what's the point of the "a fetus is a person!" argument in the abortion debate? The argument is supposed to work in a way that attributes the right to life to the fetus (poorly, as I've argued, but that's beside the point), and if you then have to argue that the fetus must have special rights above and beyond what we give to people, well, then you might as well have just argued that and left the personhood claim by the wayside. You might as well be talking about, well, anything if we're arguing for special rights; being human isn't required for that.
Because if it's not a person---there's nothing to debate. It has no rights whatsoever. Period. Pro-choice wins absolutely. Your organ transplant analogy assumes personhood, if only for debate. If it's not a person, there's no point in considering your organ transplant analogy at all. We simply don't reach it. No person, no rights. We might as well talk about whether we can kill viruses, or put our dogs to sleep. Next?
Assuming personhood at some point before delivery then there is something to debate. And your organ transplant analogy must be considered.
As to whether a fetus is eve a person, I think that birth is an extremely arbitrary point for determining personhood.It's not looks, it's cognitive function. If a fetus has all of the cognitive function it will have a birth, it's a person. We are our brains. I know what makes me think of people as people. The idea that a fetus isn't a human at some point before birth is odd if you think it through. In what ethical way do you think a fetus changes as it goes through the birth canal. Is it a person when its mother goes into labor? Half way down the birth canal? When it crowns? Outside, but before the umbilical cord is cut? Can you dash its brains out because the cord hasn't yet been cut?
A little beating heart, or a collection of cells, is not a person. A brain dead former human is not a person even if their heart is beating. What matters is our very human brains.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.