05-17-2019, 04:24 PM
(05-17-2019, 03:52 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Good argument, but (you knew it was coming) does an infant have the ability to consent, object, make decisions or self-govern? If your answer is no, then by your logic the mother should be able to do as the pleases to include killing it. Both the unborn and newborn are dependent on the mother.
You are correct that both the unborn and newborn are dependent on the mother, and neither yet has autonomy because they meet none of the criteria listed. Some important questions would then seem to follow and need to be answered:
Can the newborn eventually achieve autonomy?
Can the unborn achieve autonomy if allowed to become a newborn?
Can the unborn achieve eventual autonomy by becoming a newborn, without the already existent autonomy of the mother being violated, in the event she wants an abortion and is prohibited from doing so?
Once the baby is born, it has certain protections under the law, which no longer violate the mother's bodily autonomy.
I'n the case of prohibiting abortion, you would have to violate the mother's already existent bodily autonomy.
