A Feminist Approach
	CONTINUE ON

As you consider the nature of personhood, and whether an embryo is a person, you should also consider the possibility that this entire approach to deciding the morality of abortion is misleading. A feminist critic might say that this approach assumes that the welfare of the embryo/fetus is our central moral concern and that the welfare of the mother is secondary. She or he might point out that the rights and interests of women are only now being given the same value as those of men.

Does the very fact that we have taken the moral status of the embryo/fetus as our starting point downplay the rights and interests of women? Would our conclusions be different if we began by considering the rights and interests of women and noting that these have often been ignored or downplayed in the past? A feminist view would probably look at the interests of women first and then consider child bearing in that context.

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