Is a parasite a living thing?

Question

It has to have a host in order to survive. Like people tell me is the case with fetuses. Their argument is that a fetus is not a living thing because it has to have a host. So what about parasites? Read your biology book and you'll see they are living. And yes, I am comparing a fetus to a parasite, so get over it. I'm trying to get people to think about what they are actually saying.

Answer 1

yes it is

Answer 2

You need to make the distinction between life and independent life, as well as between human life versus non-human life.

A fetus (pre-viability) fits the medical definition of a parasite, because it cannot survive independently. Yes it is living. But the important question is whether it has an independent life, or a dependent life. And at what stages of the process.

The real issue is whether one person (the host) can be forced to provide life support for another living thing (either a parasite or a fetus) if she does not want to. I believe that the government should not be allowed to force another person to be a host (to anyone or anything) without the host's consent. That's the basic right of bodily integrity -- the right to control what happens inside your own body.

After the point of viability, the host-mother's choices are still the same -- remain involved or stop being involved. However, the outcome is different. Because after the point of viability, the host-mother can refuse to be medically involved without killing the fetus. The fetus just goes into an artificial incubator, just like a premature birth.

So, while the host-mother always has a right to whether she is biologically involved in the pregnancy process, she doesn't have a right to kill the fetus if the fetus can survive without her. That's because unlike any other type of creature, the fetus is also genetically a human, and once it can survive on its own, it has all the same rights as any other human.

So, there are several lines that matter. But you raise a good question, because most people tend to blur those lines in many different directions.