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Is a Fetus a Person?
The debate over whether abortion should be considered as murder often focuses on the question of whether the fetus is a person or not.
Here the issue of culture and religion comes in.
But what does it take to identify a fetus as a person? There are thinkers today with the belief that a fetus can be called a human being, but should not be called a person because it takes more to be a person than just having genetic material.
Philosopher Mary Ann Warren argues that in order to be considered a person, a being should have the following characteristics:
1. A developed capacity for reasoning.
2. Self awareness
3.Consciousness and ability to feel pain
4. Self motivated activity
5. Capacity to comminicate messages of an indefinite variety of types.
It would seem as if even new born babies may not be considered as persons according to the aforementioned school of thought.
No doubt infanticide has always got widespread condemnation, but abortion has always been a controversial issue.
So, what do you think? Is a fetus a person?
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Ken brown 30+
Linda Taylor 50+
Easy to judge from the other side of a computer screen.
Ken brown 30+
Elizabeth Gu 30+
But what I don't get is....How can you be sympathized with those girls while arguing that children are also don't have rights just like fetuses, thus, their lives can't be prioritized over adults'.
According to your argument against my former comments below, children are also not persons.
Is this caring same as the caring for animals?
Or in this case, are you truly caring about those girl as PERSONS?
I really want to know.
What is the basis of your logic..?
Abortion should be allowed for that kind of extreme cases.
You said, "Who gets to decide what an extreme case is?"
Now you unconscioudly give me an example.
At least intuitively, you do know what is an extreme case judging by your reply here.
Linda Taylor 50+
In the US children are not persons and are not granted rights under the constitution.
Pregnant minors are dealt with differently in each state. Each state outlines rights and procedures that the minor needs to follow. It is not a constitutional issue it is a state issue so all are a little different based on the values and moraes of each state. Or at least the state legislators.
Pregnant minor rights are similar to emancipated minor rights but there are some differences.
Typically a minor can be emancipated as young as 14 to 16. As minors much younger can get pregnant, there are special circumstances surrounding the pregnant minor definition.
But unless a child falls under the pregnant minor or the emancipated minor rulings in each state, they do not have any rights due to this thing called disability of nonage.
An emancipated minor means they have legally removed the disability of nonage. But that does not mean that the minor has all the rights an adult does. For instance, they still cannot drink alcohol until they reach legal age.
That disability is removed once a child reaches the age of 21 and is considered a person under the US constitution. I do not know how to be any clearer. Children are not persons and have no rights. No one is going to grant a 10 year old the right to bear arms or a 9 year old the right to vote.