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Article: Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses.
- Article from:
- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Article date:
- January 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Consider the standard defense of abortion rights. All persons have the right to determine what goes on in their bodies. Therefore, every woman has the right to determine what goes on in her body. Because the decision to have an abortion is a decision about what goes on in a woman's body, all women have the right to an abortion.
This defense of abortion rights yields a corollary. Suppose a woman decides to carry her pregnancy to term. Access to a fetus can be gained only though a woman's body. Because she has the right to determine what happens to her body, a woman should have the right to make all decisions that affect the fetus she is carrying.
Consider ...