Can the right to life be shared?

[realthinker]

In the early part of pregnancy the developing fetus is entirely dependent upon the body in which it is developing. Its respiratory, digestive, and circulatory systems are insufficient to sustain its own life and there is no possibility that it can survive without the direct contribution from another living body.

Many in the pro-life camp declare that a fetus is a person with rights from the moment of conception.

If the fetus's life is entirely dependent upon and inexorably linked to another's life and the fetus has a right to life, is this not granting the fetus the right to its host body's life as well? Wouldn't the fetus's right to life be entirely contingent upon the life of the mother?

Can a right, any right, be shared or contingent? Can a right, something guaranteed equally to all upon whom it is bestowed, be anything but independent?

[McCulloch]

Can a right, any right, be shared or contingent? Can a right, something guaranteed equally to all upon whom it is bestowed, be anything but independent?

I am one who holds that a right always entails responsibilities, duties, or obligations on other parties regarding the right-holder for it to be meaningful. For example, to assert the right to free speech is to assert that others are obliged to refrain (i.e. they are prohibited) from preventing you from speaking freely. Thus, your right to your opinion, to me, is a meaningless right, in that it conveys no obligations. There are schools of political thought that differ from this point of view which state that there are liberty rights rather than claim rights.

[JoeyKnothead]

In the early part of pregnancy the developing fetus is entirely dependent upon the body in which it is developing. Its respiratory, digestive, and circulatory systems are insufficient to sustain its own life and there is no possibility that it can survive without the direct contribution from another living body.

Many in the pro-life camp declare that a fetus is a person with rights from the moment of conception.

If the fetus's life is entirely dependent upon and inexorably linked to another's life and the fetus has a right to life, is this not granting the fetus the right to its host body's life as well? Wouldn't the fetus's right to life be entirely contingent upon the life of the mother?

Can a right, any right, be shared or contingent? Can a right, something guaranteed equally to all upon whom it is bestowed, be anything but independent?

I consider rights more a matter of opinion really, in that they are "given" or "taken" at the whim of the prevailing powers.

I think here the rights of the mother and the rights of the fetus are intertwined. The fetus has a right for its mother to maintain her health, and thus the health of the fetus. The mother also has the right to control what happens within her body.

[Nilloc James]

Its a warped down hill loop.

The mother has the right to her body.

The fetus has the right to life.


The contadiction makes my brain ache.