A couple questions for those who don't believe a "fetus" is a person?

Question

1. When does a "fetus" become a person in your eyes?
2. And why do you think that?

Just curious. Be warned though, I probably will add details as I receive answers. I usually do.

So technically, since a child cannot survive without outside help from their parents, they aren't viable until they're at least thirteen. What constitutes "viable" then?

Answer 1

As a law student, I too agree with the legal argument. Dual murder charges for a fetus that is inviable are charges that I strongly disagree with, as well as the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. (I believe the choice should be that of the individual person who is having the child and, failing that, should be left to the community.) I also strongly support pro-choice tactics on the grounds that, if it is banned, solutions will just be more desperate, more drastic, and, for those who disagree with abortion at later times, will only come later and later.

Personally, I would not have an abortion unless the child were condemned to a life of endless pain a la Tay-Sachs or some other condition that would make life more of a burden for the infant than anything else (note, having worked with the mentally retarded and physically disabled, I do not consider either of those to be an insurmountable burden like I do Tay-Sachs). However, that is my personal belief, and I don't foist it on others, and support pro-choice positions as a whole.

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To sum up:

Legally: Under Carhart, partial-birth abortions cannot be criminalized. A fetus thus is not a person until it is born. International norms are tending towards this interpretation as well, including the Beijing Conference.

Personally: My personal beliefs are not yours, and I would be a false believer in stare decisis if I insisted they should take precedence.

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Regarding viability: Please, people, learn some science. Viability and ability to survive outside the mother only means that the fetus can survive for mere moments, not that it can watch MTV and pay its own taxes. It only looks at a 'snapshot' of life, if you will, and asks if the creature there is alive and independent, or dead. /That/ is viability.

Answer 2

A fetus becomes a person as soon as it becomes a fetus. I was once a fetus right and i wouldn't have wanted anyone to kill me. I don't understand what good comes from aborting a child. Just because they're extremely small and can't support themselves doesn't mean they're a peice of crap. Some people just don't have good morals. I mean they chose to sleep with someone and now they want to kill an innocent child.

Answer 3

I am pro-life (conception to death) but feel the need to weigh in with how one of my friends justifies their position.

One of the things that differentiates a human embryo from a lump of multiplying cells (i.e. cancer) is the capacity for thought. Once that capacity is achieved, the fetus becomes a living entity. Before that time, it should be considered simply a mass of cells. This capacity is gained typically after 12 weeks.

Of all the arguments I have heard, this is probably the strongest, and the only one I have trouble arguing. Thoughts?

Answer 4

well if you watch silent scream on the internet, you can google it, it may make you think twice about the thing being a baby or not, it is an actually abortion as seen from the fetus point of veiw, it look slike murder. Anyways, It becomes a person the minute the egg and sperm collide. Why do I think that because cells are organisms that survive as small as they are and have an operatring system liek we do, and within them is another such organism that is smaller then that, having said that, a fetus, can be so small at conception that you cannot see it and conprehend that it is capable of feeling pain, even as tiny as it is.

Answer 5

These are my answers for how I see it.

1. A fetus becomes a person when it is capable of living externally from the mother even if it requires medical assistance. There is a point in fetal development that is too early for medical assistance alone to keep it alive.

2. Because person-hood should be something that is bestowed upon a being only when it is alive and physiologically independent of the mother.

Edit:

What I'm talking about has nothing to do with a further dependence upon the mother or anyone else. I'm talking about independent physiologically. Not physically. There is a difference. Physiological independence normally happens at birth, physical independence happens in the teen years.

You people didn't learn anything in biology did you?

Answer 6

A fetus IS a person from the point of conception. Those who do not believe this (oh it's just a clump of cells at first) would seem to think it's all just an accident that a baby is the end result, but I say If it's an accident then why is a baby always the result and not maybe a monkey, dog, fish or something else?

Answer 7

A fetus is a human at the very moment of conception. For those that say at the time that they can sustain life outside the womb (24 weeks), a baby is still dependent on the mother just like it was inside the womb. It cannot care for itself. By that point of view, killing a child that is not old enough to survive without the aid of another human being would be okay.

God bless,
Stanbo

Answer 8

A fetus becomes a person when it has gestated long enough that it could survive without artificial means outside of the womb .

Technically, in a purely obstetric sense a fetus is a fetus up until birth.

Answer 9

I assume that a fetus gains "personhood" at the time when it is viable outside of the womb--at approximately 24 weeks.

I don't support elective abortions beyond the first trimester, however.

Answer 10

I can't believe people need to rationalize murder in this way. How have people come to hate children so much? Would any of you kill a child even after is born, because it's not yet viable, or self sustaining? Grow a heart.

A Dane's… Maybe you should get fixed, and remember abortion is not a form of Birth Control.