{"id":725,"date":"2012-09-25T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T06:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=725"},"modified":"2021-01-23T18:03:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T00:03:31","slug":"is-a-fetus-a-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/is-a-fetus-a-person\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a Fetus a Person?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nUnborn baby at 20 weeks<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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In the course of my travels, I lost track of local news and did not learn until recently that back home, in Canada, the government is going to vote on Motion 312 this week. It proposes to re-examine section 223 of Canada\u2019s Criminal Code, which stipulates that a child only becomes a human being once he or she has fully proceeded from the womb. This is on the heels of a ruling by the Canadian Medical Association in August 2012 affirming the Criminal Code in this regard. I confess, I almost swallowed my tongue when I read that! Educated doctors who actually believe a baby is not human until it’s born? I glanced at my calendar. “No, it’s 2012, not 212.” Yet, it would seem that many Canadian doctors, and apparently most politicians, actually believe that a fetus is not a person until it is born. Then what is it? What is this kicking, thumb-sucking, smiling “thing” five minutes before it is born? The following was first written on July 12th, 2008 in attempt to answer this most pressing question of our times…<\/em><\/p>\n

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IN<\/strong> response to The Hard Truth – Part V<\/em><\/a>, a Canadian journalist from a national newspaper responded with this question:<\/p>\n

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If I understand you correctly, you place a great deal of moral emphasis on the capacity of the fetus to feel pain. My question to you is, does this mean abortion is entirely permissible if the fetus is anesthetized? It seems to me that either way you answer, it’s the ethical “personhood” of the fetus that is truly relevant, and its ability to feel pain tells us little if anything about it. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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UNIQUE<\/p>\n

Indeed, the issue here is personhood<\/em> which begins at conception, at least in the minds of those who defend the unborn. It is based, first, on biological facts: The fetus is alive<\/em>. It is completely and genetically unique<\/em> from its mother. Its first instant of existence as a single cell genetically contains everything of who it is, and will continue to develop to be. The mother at conception becomes a means of nourishing and sustaining the baby, as she will when it is born, albeit in a different manner.<\/p>\n

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THE CRITERIA FOR PERSONHOOD<\/p>\n

One argument for legitimizing abortion is that the fetus is an antibiosis<\/em>, dependent entirely upon its mother in the course of its life in the womb, thereby infringing on her “rights.” However, this is fallacious reasoning since the baby, after it is born, is still completely dependent. So personhood, obviously, cannot be determined by either dependence or independence.<\/p>\n

The argument that the fetus is merely an imposing “part” of the mother that can be removed is also illogical. \"\"<\/a>If that were the case, then the mother would for a time have four legs, four eyes, and in about half of pregnancies, a male organ! The baby is not a part, but a separate human person.<\/p>\n

The embryo is not a cat, a dog, or a mouse, but a human embyro. It is developing from conception into its full potential. That person is different at conception than at 8 weeks gestation, than at 8 months, than at 8 or 18 years. Birth is not an arrival but a transition<\/em>. So too is going from diapers to sitting on the potty (trust me, I have eight kids) or from sitting to walking, or from being fed to feeding oneself. If the criteria for abortion is an undeveloped person, then we should be able to kill an 8 year old because she has not fully developed either, and even moreso an 8 day old baby who, as she is in the womb, is completely dependent upon her mother. Thus it seems that developmental stage cannot determine personhood either.<\/p>\n

Doctors can induce a mother to give birth several weeks prior to full term pregnancy, and that baby can survive outside the womb. [1]<\/sup><\/a>I remember reading in the 90’s the story of a nurse who said they were fighting for the life of a five month old baby while, on the next floor of the hospital, they were aborting a five month old baby. The contradiction moved her to become an advocate for the lives of the unborn…<\/span><\/span>