Abstract

Defenses of abortion have by and large focussed upon one or the other of two topics: the question of the personhood of the fetus, or the question of the woman’s rights as weighed against those of the fetus. I will criticize one attempt—probably the most widely read, certainly the most widely anthologized—to defend abortion by denying the personhood of the fetus, and conclude that the determination of the personhood of the fetus, or its lack thereof, should await a full and sensitive discussion of rights. I will then try to show how that conclusion points in the direction of the strongest defense of abortion.