'the Mother's Right to Life Should Always Overrule the Rights of Her Unborn Child.' Assess This View.

'The mother's right to life should always overrule the rights of her unborn child.' Assess this view. (15 MARKS)

Interests can conflict, leaving a moral problem centred on the question of mother and baby equality. There is huge debate about who's right should overrule the other. Some believe the women have a greater right to life, whereas others argue the unborn child does.

Firstly, there are many who believe the mothers right to live should always overrule the rights of her unborn child.   A pregnancy and a growing foetus have an enormous impact on the mother. Not only does it cause psychological and emotional changes, it also places the mother's body under huge pressure and has significant health risks attached.   For this reason, some argue the mother's health is more superior to the foetus. It will be the mother who supports the child as the foetus grows inside her own body, and affects her health life and freedom and so she should have the final say.   This is a pro-choice view, which argues the mother has the right to decide what happens to her own body.

Furthermore, some believe the mothers rights overrule the rights of the unborn as many believe that the foetus has not adopted personhood, and therefore does not have the same rights as the mother. Personhood is the ethical quality or human condition which denotes a morally significant or valuable individual being. However, there is dispute about when personhood begins. Some claim consciousness defines a human person, whereas others argue that the foetus is a potential person because full legal status should be awarded on the basis that it has potential to be something. However, others argue that a potential person is not equal to a person. Mary Anne Warren argues a potential victory isn't the same as a victory.   Therefore, the mother's rights should overrule the unborn foetuses.   Some argue that an embryo is a growing human being, and it is a potential person. But, they argue, it's not yet a...