How Strong a Right?
	CONTINUE ON

If you are inclined to agree with Thomson, consider this case: Suppose that the fetus developed much further during pregnancy than it actually does. Assume that it develops so much that everyone agrees that it is a person. It learns to talk while in the womb, plays games with its mother, and becomes a part of social life --yet it still depends entirely upon her for nutrition. It needs special nutrients from her body and there are no substitutes for them. It will die if removed from her womb before eight months have passed.

With this hypothetical case we have eliminated doubts about personhood. Would the mother's right to control her body include the right to kill such a fetus after seven months, when it is clearly a small person? Would it matter whether she wanted to become pregnant? Whether she tried to avoid becoming pregnant? Whether she had a serious reason to terminate the pregnancy? Why or why not?

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