[Previous article: Pro-Choicers’ Persistent Infant Problem: A Reply to Boonin] Pro-choice philosopher David DeGrazia has defended a view on which pre-conscious human fetuses lack moral rights, and part of his defense includes an argument for thinking that his position “does not support radical openness to infanticide” (77).[1] But his view does not adequately address pro-choicers’ […]
[Today’s guest article is by Leslie Corbly.] In her article, “Abortion Rights after Artificial Wombs: Why Decriminalisation is Needed Ahead of Ectogenesis,” feminist scholar Claire Horn argues that the advancement of technology allowing for fetal development outside the natural womb of a woman threatens a woman’s right to abortion. Preserving the life of the unborn […]
[Today’s guest article is by Audrey Wagner.] The Conversation claims to publish “trustworthy and informative articles written by academic experts.” So I was recently disheartened, and not just a little annoyed, when I found false premises, misleading information, and logical fallacies among three of their recent articles discounting the value of unborn humans in the […]
[Today’s guest article and illustrations are by Elise Ketch.] So you’re a fetus defender, and a troll has appeared from the bowels of the internet to gatekeep basic human rights. “A human fetus doesn’t have rights unless it’s a person,” declares the troll, placing the obstacle of personhood between the fetus and their rights. “And […]
Today’s post is by Andrew Scherer I’ve thought a lot about what makes anyone a “person.” Perhaps “personhood” has only ever been a label that humanity has used as a linguistic gate-keeping device in order to justify oppression, cruelty, and the killing of people they do not like and want to eliminate. Can anyone else […]
Editor’s note: Today’s post includes ideas readers may find disturbing, including discussion of sexual assault and harm to children. Please proceed at your own discretion. We find the ideas discussed herein abominable, but we believe the discussion is important in order to contextualize certain personhood arguments. [Today’s guest article is by Elise Ketch.] If fetuses […]
Today’s guest article is by Petra Wallenmeyer, who is the Content Director at Human Defense Initiative. Introduction A rather interesting journal publication was brought to my attention a few weeks ago. The article is called “Conscious Abortion: Engaging the Fetus in a Compassionate Dialogue” and was published in the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology […]
[Photo credit Patricia Prudente from Unsplash] Personhood and Artificial Womb Technology In 2017, artificial womb technology was successfully used to support lamb fetuses that had been transferred from their mothers, and there’s hope that this technology will soon be used on very premature human infants. This makes it important to think about the moral status […]
Photo credit NeONBRAND with Unsplash [Esta publicación está disponible en español aquí.] Today’s guest blog post is by Kristina Artuković Anyone who is in any way involved in the debate on prenatal justice knows that it usually involves tiring discussions about the meaning of terms like human, person, personhood or potentiality. More versed pro-choice advocates […]
What difference is there (if any) between a human organism and a “person”? Is there such thing as a human non-person? How do we determine which human organisms have moral worth and merit social protection? People have given me a variety of suggestions for the factors human organisms need to be morally relevant, including connection […]
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