The Sanctity of Life

Although national attention has recently been directed towards defining marriage, the legalization of abortion continues to politically-stimulate the masses. Divisive in its’ nature, abortion becomes a pressing societal concern as it violently attacks perhaps the most vulnerable popultion; the fetus. The validity of the arguments both for and against abortion rest on one underlying question: are the unborn in fact “persons worthy of rights”? If pro-life advocates can sufficiently prove that unborn humans are “persons worthy of rights” than the mother’s “right to choose” would arguably be trumped by the fetus’s right to life. Nearly all methods of ethical reasoning would find in favor of the pro-life argument IF it can be shown that the unborn are “persons worthy of rights”. If pro-choice advocates can sufficiently prove that the unborn are not “persons worthy of rights” than there is no way to justify forcing pregnancy on unwilling women. Immediately upon conception the zygote becomes a complete being. In the contrast, a sperm relies on an egg, and an egg a sperm. Furthermore, owing to the completeness of the zygote, it becomes recognized as a self-directing being in that the zygote begins to pursue its’ own survival and protects itself as it travels through the women’s body. In the case of brain death, a human is considered dead not because we no longer consider them as a living person, but rather because of the irreversible loss of autonomy and the unitary pursuit of survival. Having proven the zygote as life, it ceases to be categorized as “potential life” but “life with potential”. Now recognized as a person, the fetus is granted specific rights. Several advocates for a woman’s choice identify the fetus as life, yet deny the fetus rights equal to the mother. The primary defect in this argument is that it would attempt to bestow rights at varying degrees dependent upon accidental traits, traits that one may or may not acquire throughout his or her life such as consciousness, independence, or intelligence. When we begin to bestow rights based on accidental traits, it begs questions which force arbitrary questions. For example, at which level of intelligence do we cease to acknowledge basic rights? Would a partial mentally disabled individual qualify for basic human rights? The only rational approach to bestowing basic human rights is one based on the “type” of organism rather than the “level”; granting the zygote the same rights all humans are granted, fundamentally the right to life. Whether abortion should or should not be illegalized must be left for the people to decide. Unfortunately, much of public policy addressing abortion stems from the Supreme Court’s landmark case Roe v. Wade. With the passing of Proposition 8 in the state of California regarding marriage, the court evidently did not align itself with public opinion. It was not until democracy overruled the court’s ruling, maintaining the traditional definition of marriage. Similarly, a democratic process must be applied.