The Abortion Debate Essay

Is there – or has there ever been – such a thing as a living fetus? Is the fusion of the sperm with the egg simply an embryo, devoid of value? Is it only truly viable when it is “capable of living, under normal conditions, outside the uterus”? (Breborowicz) Such questions have puzzled mankind for decades! While to some the questions may seem irrelevant, or even childishly simple, my parents have never quite let me forget that “it takes two to start an argument.” So for some, obviously, it is not a simple matter at all. In fact, both sides of what is known as the Abortion Debate hold views on personhood, human rights, and even life itself that are vastly contrary to one another. One particular point of discussion between pro-life and pro-choice advocates is that of the definition of life: when does a fetus gain the status of a living human being? The answer to this question is of no small consequence, as the issue at stake is whether or not the

It might seem odd, but think – only for a moment – of death as the lack of life. Just as a darkness is the absence of light, nothingness the absence of “things,” and emptiness the absence of contents, so too is death the lack of life. With that in mind, it is well in order to define death, as by doing so, we can easily find its opposite. What, then, are the characteristics of death? It would be reasonable to say that if an organism has no heartbeat or perceivable brain function, it could be called dead. An object such as a boulder, then, would be dead. It would follow, then, that life is at least partially constituted by the pumping of blood through the heart, as well as the presence of brain waves. It could further the stipulated that death is constituted by an inability to reproduce one’s DNA. Look at the skin, for