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The Fetus as a Person

            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 being born. A fetus is not fully developed in the womb at the time of the abortion period, and therefore is not a person. If a fetus was not born it cannot be considered a being because it has no physical existence outside the female.


Essays Related to The Fetus as a Person

1. Moral Stautes of a Fetus

Our perception of the scientific methods used to determine when a fetus become a person may differ. Such as Catholics may say the fetus becomes a person with full moral status at the time of conception. ... All of these examples demonstrate differing interpretations of scientific methods used to determine when a fetus becomes a person with moral status. ... Finally, a fetus may not be considered a person with moral status, when considering the criteria for personhood. ... Is she not a person because of these facts? ...

  • Word Count: 707
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Alcohol and The Fetus

People should not make assumptions about something so important especially if it concerns a person's health (Walsh 2-3). ... The fetus is exposed longer because its organs are still developing, therefore, taking the fetus twice as long to break down the alcohol (Walsh 2). ... To the average person one percent is not too large of a proportion. ... Through research, alcohol has been proven toxic to the fetus ("Fetal Alcohol"). ... Drinking alcohol has a much more definite effect on the fetus than on an adult. ...

  • Word Count: 1477
  • Approx Pages: 6

3. Can the fetus Learn?

Can the fetus learn? ... Can the fetus think, feel and learn? ... Many people would say that the fetus is a miniature version of a person with primitive physical, emotional and cognitive capabilities. ... The study demonstrated an effect of repeated music exposure in multiple fetuses, carried over into the newborn period, suggesting that it is possible for the human fetus to learn. ... They found that fetuses in a quiet state habituated more rapidly (mean rate of five stimuli) than fetuses in an active state (mean rate of eight stimuli). ...

  • Word Count: 1245
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Abortion

So why should we allow a fetus, an unborn child, a right? ... But then again, this unborn fetus could be the next Einstein, or a genius that will save the planet from extinction. ... BUT, if you ask that same person, "Should a person be allowed to have an abortion?" ... But a "Pro-life" person might say, "Well it's not really your place to answer another persons right." ... The Pro-life side may still argue that the fetus is a living being, and should not be, as they would put it, murdered. ...

  • Word Count: 1222
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Ethics

When formulating an argument confirming the conclusion that a fetus is a person, one may conclude that because one can not deal with where on the slippery slope argument a fetus becomes a person, you have to start at the beginning of the development of a human being at conception. It is even more difficult to determine when the fetus becomes self-aware, so when drawing conclusions, we should take it as a fact that all fetuses are persons from the beginning. ... As a group, we have concluded that the argument that a fetus is a human being and a person is the strongest because it is so hard to...

  • Word Count: 465
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Abortion

Before viability the fetus is not considered to have the moral sense that a person has and does not entail the necessary elements of "personhood". ... So it is unlikely that a fetus is a person because it has no rational thinking or a thought process while in the womb. ... It occurs in many animals that aren't persons. ... It is seen that the fetus does not resemble a person based on the moral sense. The fetus inside the womb is considered a "potential" person. ...

  • Word Count: 1521
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Abortion

The argument for the "right to life- and the "fetus is a person- does not adhere to the criteria of a good argument because they are not flexible in all scenarios. ... Most abortion debates build their argument on the definition that the fetus is a person. ... Therefore, claiming that a fetus is a person cannot be used by pro-life advocates because they cannot explain the steps of development from "fetus- to "person-. The same problem can be extended to those who defend abortion because if they say the fetus is not a person, they cannot scientifically prove this either. ... We cannot claim t...

  • Word Count: 1386
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Legality Of Abortion

To deny abortion is denying the mother certain civil rights, but if the fetus is considered a person, then the rights of the fetus are being denied by allowing abortion to be legal. ... It is only after exploring these questions can a person justify their position on abortion. ... Distinct and unique characteristics of a person are determined at the time of conception. ... The amendment states that, "No person or state may deprive a person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law" (475 US Constitution). ... Since every person has individual beliefs and ...

  • Word Count: 7565
  • Approx Pages: 30
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Abortion

PHI 125 After reading many positions on abortion, I have come to the conclusion that a fetus is a person and the right to life of a fetus outweighs that of a woman's right to bodily integrity. ... Warren argues that a fetus has no substantial right to life on the basis that it is not a person. ... Therefore, if this is true, the argument that a fetus is not a person is fallible. One could conclude that a fetus is a person and that ending its life by abortion is immoral, for taking one's life is immoral. ... If it is accepted that to murder another person is immoral, then I ca...

  • Word Count: 1016
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

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