Related Ideas

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Some philosophers argue that infanticide (and perhaps the killing of a late term fetus) is wrong, but not because it violates the rights of the infant (or fetus). They argue that in spite of the fact that a fetus or infant has no rights it is not permissible to kill it without very good reasons because of the consequences for others. Infanticide may bring grief to the parents, decrease respect for the lives of persons, and so forth. But if you feel that killing an infant wrongs the infant, then this sort of reasoning won't be very satisfactory.

(This view also implies that if there were no undesirable consequences for others there would be nothing wrong with infanticide.)