Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
This, too, is at the heart of the issue under discussion. 24 weeks is arbitrary. If an unborn child is not a person at 23 weeks, they are not in fact a person at 26 or 28. In fact if it is a matter of when they can live unaided, a lot of premature births result in the delivery of a non-person. Yet we do not treat them as such.
The use of consciousness is also highly problematic. Animals are conscious yet are not people at any point in their lives. If you mean self-conscious, then babies are arguably not self-conscious at the point of natural, unaided birth.
Question: At what point after conception does the biological process become a person?
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I don't think there is a 'hard line'. I do think that it occurs after we legally allow abortions. I think it's either when they can exist unaided, or theoretically can with medical intervention in the case of a pre-mature birth, or when they develop consciousness. Both of these things occur prior to birth.