Mary Anne Warren Thesis

A. Mary Anne Warren in the chapter “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion and Postscript on Infanticide” discusses her views on pro-abortion. Warren explains how a fetus has not reached enough development to be considered a person. In order for a being to be considered a person they must have a list of five traits. The first is “consciousness”, specifically the facility to feel emotions externally and internally, such as pain. The second is “reasoning”, the capability to finding solutions to any difficult insistences, or situations. “Self-motivated activity” is the third trait, it consists of “activity which is relatively independent of either genetic or direct external control” (pp). The fourth trait is communication, “by whatever means, messages with an indefinite variety of types, that is, not just with an indefinite number of possible contents, but on indefinitely many possible topics” (pp). The final trait is “self-awareness and self-concepts” (pp). These five traits are what ultimately identifies humanity or personhood, and a fetus does not apply to these descriptions, therefor, a fetus is not considered a person – rather the mother of the fetus is, she has the right to decide whether to terminate the fetus or not. “A pregnant
Warrens view on pro-life is incorrect because although the fetuses aren’t capable of consciousness, reasoning, self-motivation, communication or self-awareness; the fetus is still a human. Although a fetus is not able to think for itself, that does not mean that it won’t have the five traits Warren was examining. By terminating a fetus, you are restraining a human from a life, where he or she will be able to reason, and prove consciousness, etc. It is unfair to say that a fetus is not a person, the unborn child has a genetic code, making him or she unique and the potential to be its own individual. There is potential for this fetus to mature and it is unfair to restrain it because it hasn’t reached its full level of