Right of an Unborn Child Vs. Abortion Right
Abortion is one of the controversial issues discussed in medical ethics. It is a matter that is raised when talking about issues of whether beginning of life and personhood begin at conception or not. The debate in our society and others is not only over when does personhood and human life begins but also over at what point women should be allowed to perform abortion and for what reasons do we have an obligation to respect and protect that life. The biggest problem that surrounds this concerns the life of the fetus or the unborn child. On whether it has a right to life or whether the mother of the unborn fetus has a right to terminate it or not. A lot of controversies has surrounded this area of the debate, and it is the basis of this discussion that issue has been chosen. At the two ends of the continuum are the radical pro-life and radical pro-choice advocates. The pro-life advocates are those who hold opposing views about abortion formulate the argument which follows: 1) fetus has to be regarded as human being; 2) killing an innocent human being is morally wrong; 3) aborting is an example of killing and terminating a human being’s life. Whereas, pro-choice advocates support abortion hold their views based on the moral issue selected, abortion has to be accepted and that woman already has full human rights, including the right to bodily autonomy. Many pro-lifers view the zygote—the one-celled human organism resulting from fertilization—as sacred, and believe that the organism is a living being. By contrast, the pro-choicers believe that the organism becomes a person only after it leaves the womb. However, I will take the third position that falls between these two extremes, called pro-person position. Although it leans more towards the pro-choice stance and I do believe that a pregnant mother should have their freedom of choice to decide on whether to hold the pregnancy or terminate it depending on their personal experience and circumstances they encounter or in life-death situation.
There is often an ambiguity when people talk about “when life begins?”. Depending on perspective, there are so many answer to this question. The life of a unique human organism, however, according to the American College of Pediatricians concurs with the body of scientific evidence that “human life begins at conception (fertilization) when a sperm fuses with an ovum to form a zygote; this cell is the beginning of a new human being”. Therefore, Unborn children (from the time they come into existence as zygotes) are considered as human beings. The zygote is the start of a biological continuum that automatically grows and develops, passing gradually and sequentially through the stages we call foetus, baby, child, adult, old person and ending eventually in death. The full genetic instructions to guide the development of the continuum, in interaction with its environment, are present in the zygote. Every stage along the continuum is biologically human and each point along the continuum has the full human properties appropriate to that point” (Dr. William Reville, University College Cork, Ireland. Quote from a letter to the Irish Independent). Therefore, Pro-life advocate believes that fetus have a right to life and all human beings have a right not to be intentionally dismembered and killed while in zygotic stage. That’s the moral principle. Whereas, pro-choice advocates have proposed different views on this question “when does life begin?”. They believe that life begin after a baby takes their first breath and become apart from mother’s womb. They believes, regardless of whether a fetus is a human being or has right to life, women could perform abortions at any stage, even if it means breaking the law or risking their lives. Ultimately though, to have a “right to life” requires that one be an individual capable of living an independent existence. One must “get a life” before one has a “right to life”. They contend that choosing abortion is a woman’s right that should not be limited by governmental or religious authority, and which outweighs any right claimed for an embryo or fetus.
The question of when human life begins is one of considerable ethical issue, particularly for debates over abortion. Pro-lifer believes that life begin at moment of conception. By contrast, lots of pro-choicers have different opinion on “what stage does human life begin”?. Some considered that human life begins about 24 hours later during an event called syngamy (the breakdown of the two pronuclear membranes in the new cell, which results from the fusion of sperm and egg). Some believes that fertilized eggs take between six to 12 days to successfully implant in the uterine lining to establish a pregnancy. Therefore, fetus can not be considered having a life until this happens. Some believes life begins after the embryo’s heartbeat can be detected, which happens at around 6 weeks’ gestational age or 4 weeks following conception. However, according to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, stated, “I don’t think anybody can tell you when – human life begins”. Although, it have been proven scientifically that life begin at the moment of conception but pro-choice advocates still argue that women has right to their bodily autonomy and can decide to perform an abortion throughout any stage of her pregnancy whether a fetus has right to life or not.
Most of us would agree that all persons should be assigned the full spectrum of human rights, e.g. rights to life, bodily autonomy, property, etc. But what is a person anyway? When does the human organism developing inside a woman become a person? During the time of Aristotle was that “the human soul entered the forming body at 40 days in male embryos and at 90 days in female embryos” when it considere as a person. On the other hand, during medieval times theologians concluded that “the soul enters the body when the baby takes its first breath” when they actually become a person. However, different thinkers have simply pinned the beginning of personhood to different developmental milestones which include: Conception, first heart beat, quickening (fetal movement when first detected by the pregnant woman), onset of pain perception, first brain waves, birth itself, and first breath.
When most of us think of a person we think of “the man or woman,” or a human being who is conscious, senses, thinks, feels, behaves, has preferences and values, communicates, and interacts, e.tc. However, Wikipedia provides more depth, defining “person” as “a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, e.t.c” and adding that the “defining features of personhood what makes a person count as a person differ widely among cultures and contexts.” In 21st century, the answer to the question “what is a person” is “any human organism with the current capacity for consciousness”. What comes along with this definition is a question of “When does the human fetus become a person?” Or “When does the human fetus acquire the capacity for consciousness?” In 1998, “Gertler had proposed 22–24 weeks gestation for “brain birth” on the basis that the neocortex begins producing EEG waves at this time”. On the basis of EEG readings, “he conclude that a fetus becomes conscious at 32–36 weeks gestation”. In 2001, Dr. David L. Perry stated “it’s difficult to say precisely when consciousness first occurs” by reading fetal EGG patterns. But, somewhere between 20 and 32 weeks gestation, there is a possibility of occurring consciousness. In 2010, Megan stated that, “consciousness and the higher brain doesn’t fully occur until about the 26th to 28th weeks of gestation”. Christof Koch, one of the neuroscientists stated that consciousness “begins to be in place between the 24th and 28th week of gestation”. However, based on the evidence presented here, best estimate for the consciousness in the fetus is at 27 weeks gestational age, which is roughly 25 weeks from conception. Although the available scientific evidence does not yet enable a precise answer to question “when does consciousness occur in human fetus”. However, based on the best available scientific research and theory, the “beginning of personhood in the human fetus shall be construed as the start of the 25th week post conception”. Although, human organisms are unique, and surely they do not all become persons at the same time since their conceptions. But, the classification of a particular fetus as a nonperson (before 24 week) which could lead to aborting a fetus “too early”. In this approach doctors could use “the fetus is at least 25 weeks old” as a proxy for “the fetus has acquired the capacity for consciousness and is now considered a person”.
However, pro-lifer considered a human zygote (fetus) as a person, whereas, pro-choicers considered fully conscious fetus is not a person. The reason why a fetus cannot be a person because it is part of another person, the mother. Persons are not parts of other persons, but the fetus is part of another person. Therefore, the fetus is not a person. Both the pro-life and pro-choice positions are misguided when it comes to the question – beginning of personhood? The zygote, embryo, nor early fetus are persons as defined, as the pro-lifers have suggested. But contrary to the pro-choicers, the late fetus is indeed a person but not 25 week old fetus. In alignment with this new pro-person position I suggest these moral principles: 1) No human rights, including a right to life, should be assigned to the human organism during development before it becomes a person. And so, a woman should be able to remove or kill the zygote, embryo, or fetus inside her before it becomes a person for any reason at all without penalty to her or to others who help her. However, after it becomes a person, a women should not be able to remove or kill the zygote for any reason without penalty to her. 2) Abortions should be provided only by licensed medical practitioners under safe conditions. It should be against the law for a woman to perform a self-abortion, get an abortion from an unlicensed practitioner, and to get a late abortion perhaps with some exceptions, such as rape case, and incest, or to save the life of the mother. As the pro-person position, I do recognizes late fetus (25 week) and the women both as a person with human rights. However, when these right come into conflict during last 15 weeks of pregnancy, then the state must intervene through a clear constitution, laws, and/or policies to resolve the conflict.
In conclusion, the core idea of the pro-person position is that the human organism becomes a human person when it acquires the capacity for consciousness at approximately 25 weeks after conception. After these time period, a women should not be allowed to perform an abortion, even though, she has human rights and right of bodily autonomy. An unborn child should have a full right to live inside his/her mother womb after become a person and that life needs to be protected under the law.
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