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Originally Posted by footfoot
This doesn't happen as often as Law and Order would like us to believe. In many states the fetus is not legally considered a human; a person will not be charged with double homicide for killing a pregnant woman in those states.
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It would not be legally considered a person, not if it's not considered a human.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lugez
But why is the fetus considered human in the first place? That's whats inconsistent.
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All fetuses from human parents are considered human because they have human DNA, made from 2 humans usually and will be a human later on. It's always a human in biology and in law. It may not be considered a person though but a person need not be a single human in law. A person is someone/thing responsible for doing certain things within the realm of the law. So the debate never is whether it is a human as there's nothing to debate in that; the debate is over whether it is a person and at what time in its development within the womb is it considered a person, or if it is never considered a person within the womb. So if someone is charged with double homicide for killing a pregnant mother, it is because the fetus has been considered a person.
Arguing when human life occurs is something I find to be a self-defeating argument. If we start in thinking at what stage we would consider whatever organism to be alive, we'll always answer that it's considered alive at the point when it's growing or a similar answer. So the same will be for human life. When it is growing on its own, it is alive. There is no need to argue that it is not conscious at that time because we would consider a growing tree to be alive yet it is not conscious. Thus, it's self-defeating because at the moment where it is growing on its own, it is alive. To say it's growing on its own yet is not alive I find stupid. It may need assistance to grow from the mother.
Another inconsistency would be when it comes to other "humans". To avoid a long side-trail I'll be as brief as I can. Within the taxonomy, there is a tribe hominini, which are humans, only these are more ape-like. Basically, if you ended up killing one of these, you could be charged with murder when using the argument that double homicides on pregnant women are because the fetus is a human. If you turned around and shot pretty much any other non-human animal, each kill wouldn't ever be treated like a murder.