My appendix is both human and alive. I think the material for a potential person actually becomes a person when the lights are on and there's somebody home, and there is viability outside the mother. Around the middle of the third trimester, there are the first detectable brainwaves, and because of that scientific evidence, I think at that time a fetus gains about as much personhood as a dog or chimp. It rapidly increases from there to the point of birth at nine months.
Even at nine months and viable biological independence, it does not have full rights-- merely the right to life. We don't grant full rights in this society until adulthood. It is a gradual slope.
It's true, there is little agreement on it, and that's the burden of proof the Pro-Lifers haven't surmounted. The burden does indeed lie with them. The Pro-Choicers have consistently acted like it doesn't exist, so they haven't driven home a Pro-Choice view of it.
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Date: 2008-11-19 04:16 pm (UTC)Even at nine months and viable biological independence, it does not have full rights-- merely the right to life. We don't grant full rights in this society until adulthood. It is a gradual slope.
It's true, there is little agreement on it, and that's the burden of proof the Pro-Lifers haven't surmounted. The burden does indeed lie with them. The Pro-Choicers have consistently acted like it doesn't exist, so they haven't driven home a Pro-Choice view of it.