Is A Fetus A Person? Essay

Abortion has been one of the most popular and argumentative topics that has still yet to be settled. Ultimately the question we can ask when trying to solve this issue is whether or not pregnant women should have the right to kill an unborn baby. Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth takes place and is a moral wrong. Can we as a society call ourselves human if we allow the deaths of unborn babies to take place? Those who take the side of pro-choice or as also known as pro-abortion often use statements concerning life, humanity, human rights and freedom to support their claims. I believe abortion should be illegal because we as a society must protect the human lives that are in danger whether or not they are in their first

The topic of abortion is heavily debated. One of the major controversies surrounding abortion is whether or not the embryo is a human life and able to receive the same rights as any other human. Is the embryo mentally developed enough to be considered as a human life? It is medically proven that after conception, the human brain takes many months to develop, so the “personhood” of a fetus cannot begin until about the seventh month.

They teach their fetuses about abundances, scarcity, safety, and harm. Annie argued that learning is an essential quality of life that begins way before we can imagine. It is important to understand the way mothers contribute to the learning of the fetus before they’re even

     A fetus is tissue growing inside the body of a woman. Since a fetus has

While it may have a heartbeat, and is a potential human being, a fetus does not have any consciousness. Don Smith, who is pro abortion, goes into detail about this claim: “What makes a person inherently precious, I think, is (dormant or active) consciousness: thoughts, feelings, memories, hopes, and awareness. Since consciousness depends on the development of the nervous system, and since it takes many months for the nervous system to mature, we can conclude that consciousness emerges gradually. Consequently, the inherent preciousness emerges gradually too. Granted, a sleeping or comatose person has no consciousness either. But a sleeping or comatose person's consciousness is dormant: if they wake up, they have memories, etc. For a fertilized egg, there is no consciousness and also no history of consciousness (unless you believe in reincarnation). Even though all the DNA is there, the fact that there's no higher brain activity strongly suggests that there's no consciousness. Nor does the later presence of a heartbeat and of primitive neural activity imply consciousness or preciousness. What's needed is higher brain activity and the consequent self-awareness” (Smith). Smith has a valid point in saying that consciousness is the difference between a living, breathing human being and a fetus. A fetus can't recall memories – they don't have any feelings, hopes, aspirations or fears. So, if a

Even though most people think the scientific terms, fetus or embryo, is talking about the cells or tissues, the terms really refer to the stages of development. This means that the fetus is not just a small piece of tissue, but a human life. “The beginning of a single human being from a biological viewpoint is a simple, straightforward matter—- the beginning is conception.” (Bowes).

Anencephaly is described as neural tube defect that has severe limits on the lifespan of affected infants. The condition is likely to contribute to the failure of the neural tissue to an extent that it can completely close at the cephalic end of the neural system. This medical condition in infants tends to occur between the third and fourth week of a woman's pregnancy resulting in the absence of the cerebral cortex though the brain stem remains intact. While the brain stem manages autonomic functions like blood pressure and heart rate, the cerebral cortex is in charge of functions like purposeful actions, memories, consciousness, and emotions. Infants with these conditions who are born alive tend to have a basic brain stem that can support reflex action like breathing as well as certain reactions to touch or sound. There are several arguments that have been raised regarding the use organs of anencephalic infants who are born alive to save the lives of other newborns. These arguments have emerged because of the consideration that infants with anencephaly are not persons.

A fetus is made of everything that it needs to survive and become a human being with a distinctly human conscious, yet a fetus doesn’t have this conscious (Pro-CAN). Science has proven that the fetus doesn’t have a conscious during the standard time of abortion because a fetus doesn’t develop a nervous system or brain until the last stage of pregnancy. This following quote supports this claim: “Since consciousness depends on the development of the nervous system, and since it takes many months for the nervous system to mature, we can conclude that consciousness emerges gradually.” (Smith). Without a nervous system or a brain a fetus can’t feel, think, have emotions, memories, or awareness (Pro-CAN, and Smith). Thus, a fetus is as alive as a plant, a plant that can’t survive by itself. Furthermore, it is important to define human life before determining if a fetus experiences human life. The fetus is a live, and it is human, but it doesn’t experience human life because of it’s lack of human conscious. An actual human being experiences human life, therefore a fetus only has the potential to have a human conscious and does not actually experience human life (Pro-CAN). All of these statements conclude that a fetus doesn’t experience human life at the time of standard abortion, so consequently abortion isn’t

human being is made at conception. Most people argue that the baby dies from this, causing me

A lot of people consider abortion a form of murder because they consider the fetus to be a human being. It is because of this that they would never get an abortion and they would get mad at others who did. People consider babies a gift from God and even unplanned pregnancies are seen as God’s gift to the parents. People who are against abortion state other humans are in no position to play God and that we have no right to choose who lives and who dies. Some reasons that pregnant women consider not having an abortion are because the chances of getting pregnant afterwards decline and because of the emotional pain that is felt with the loss of a mother’s child. It is a very tragic event in a woman’s life and its something that can’t be reversed or taken back. People who are against abortion argue that

The topic of abortion is a hot subject among the people of America today. Some say yes, women should be able to have abortions no matter if the fetus is in the first trimester or well in to the second trimester of gestation. On the other hand the other people say that it is murder of a child no matter the stage of development. Many of the people that believe that the fertilized ovum is a human and has a soul at the conception are the pro-life people. They believe this because of their religious beliefs and cannot scientifically prove this in any way.

The concept fetus is used to denote the unborn human from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo (the product of conception from implantation in the uterus through the eighth week of development). A fetus contains all the organs and has the basic human form. (Rand)

becoming distinctive, and the mother can now feel the baby's movements. Clearly the fetus has a moral

The Oxford English Dictionary defines abortion as: “An operation or other procedure to terminate pregnancy before the fetus is viable.” There have been many arguments as to which point does the embryo become a human being. Scientific research has proven that even though the fetus starts to develop a face, arms, legs etc., by the tenth week, it does not have a consciousness and therefore it is not considered as a human being. The question that poses is, does having a conscious make you human?

Education and learning is a big role in our lives. Accessing knowledge doesn’t just happen in a classroom, but in all walks of life. The ability to learn starts way before anyone can walk or talk. A fetus can hear the actions and conversations happening around the mother’s belly. However, the sounds are muffled. Similar to placing a hand over the mouth of a person that is talking, but the fetus can still hear the rhythm of speech (Skwarecki, 2013). The ability to learn doesn’t start at birth, it starts in the fetal stage. There are many things a baby can learn while in the womb during the third trimester. They can learn the dialect of the mother’s native tongue. They will recognize the theme song to a program that was played frequently. The infant’s psychological brain functions can also be altered by what the mother endured while pregnant (Paul, 2011). Therefore, as a society we should all be tactful and wary of what we say or conflict around a woman that is expecting.