What I meant was that the child is totally dependent on the decisions of the mother. After the baby is born, the mother can give the baby up for adoption, and remove herself from that decision-making process.
And, if you grant some sort of legal status that the fetus is a human life, then the legal quandary becomes: what about all the child abuse protection laws? If the fetus is a child, why would it not get the full protection of these laws? It is illegal to give your baby an alcoholic drink, but, essentially, that's what you do when you drink during pregnancy. Would these laws already on the books come into play?
I believe the reason these are difficult questions is because of this total biological dependency on the mother. She makes the choices as to the future of the fetus, until it is born as a human life. Upon that separation, the child gains certain moral and legal rights that, almost by definition, require the child to be separate and not biologically dependent on the mother. And, if she cannot make the choices necessary as required by child protection laws, she can give the child up, or have it taken away. |
