Women Must be Free to Choose Abortion

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has the ability to decide for themselves what is morally acceptable. It is because of this decision that our American culture intensely debates issues of morality such as abortion. The debate over abortion pits the rights to life of an unborn fetus against the rights of rational women who want to control what happens to their own body. Does the temination of a pregnancy deprive a human of their right to life? Should our government be allowed the power to regulate what a woman can and cannot do with her own body? These are two of the questions which will be deliberated over throughout the course of this paper.

In his article "Abortion and Infanticide", Michael Tooley tackles two important questions about abortion. The first is "what properties must someone have in order to be considered a person, i.e., to have a serious right to life?" Tooley answers that anything which completely lacks consciousness, like ordinary machines, cannot have rights. If a being does not desire ...

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This definition of possessing a right to life can be applied to newborn babies that do not yet have a concept of a self as a continuous being. Therefore, it is morally acceptable to deprive them of their right to life, for they don't show desire for life. According to Tooley, the fetus does not have a right to life at any time therefore, the mother of that fetus should have the right to terminate her pregnancy as she so chooses. Tooley implies that until the fetus reaches the age of about three weeks outside the uterus, it does not show signs of wanting life. Only when the child shows signs of desiring life should the child be given a right to life. These arguments are ...

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