Personhood Of The Foetus Essay

This section is concerned with the issue of the moral status or the personhood of the foetus. The discussion on the personhood of the foetus is needed for two main reasons. First, arguing for the personhood of the foetus is an independent approach to understand and tackle the problem of abortion. Second, all the previous sections referred to the personhood of the foetus in one way or other. This section will explain what is personhood, what are the characteristics needed to identify personhood, what are the different arguments related to the criteria for personhood and finally how the arguments on the criteria for personhood address the problem of abortion. After presenting the various arguments, this section will discuss the major criticism offered within the literature on …show more content…
The Sanctity of Life theory (cf. section 1) treats the foetus as a human life, which, as such, is deemed to be sacred. Since the foetal life as a human life is sacred, the theory concludes that it is prima facie wrong to kill the foetus. Two major problems have been identified earlier. First, the appeal to “human” life is an appeal to a particular species and as such is criticized as a “speciesist” argument, in a way analogous to sexist or racist. Based on this criticism an appeal to a particular species cannot be treated as morally significant. Second, if the aspect of sacredness or worthiness part of the sanctity of life theory is treated philosophically rather than religiously , then there must be some ground or conditions met by the human life in general and the foetal life in particular that provides that life with the inviolability argued in the theory. Thus, both these criticisms point to the discussion of the moral status of the foetus, or more specifically the personhood of the foetus. Only if the foetus is a person, it deserves to be treated in such a way that its life is considered as