rtion is therefore moral, according to Warren's hypothesis. She admits that a person need not have all of the traits, but should exhibit a few. However, she does not state which traits are crucial for the reward of personhood (Warren, 320). This reasoning opens up a window of opportunity for critics to say that she is moralizing infanticide, because an infant is no more of a person than a fetus is according to her five standards. Her response to this is that killing infants would deprive other people of happiness, because they might want to raise the child themselves, which is why people put tax dollars into orphanages. This argument is very insufficient. People see murdering innocent children as inherently wrong and evil. We refuse to kill them not because it may ruin the happiness of the potential parents, but in regards to the welfare of the child itself. Other questions can arrive out of this argument as well, such as: What about people that are in a constant vegetative state? Do they not have personhood? Do we have the right to kill them? What about animals? Can we torture and kill them anytime we want after taking them into our homes? I don't know of many people that would agree, including Warren herself.Although there are a few holes in her overall justification of "personhood", there is one assertion that she concludes with that is more powerful than anything else in her article. It is when she challenges all people that feel she is being immoral, to step up to plate and be willing to provide care for unwanted infants and to confront a society that is not willing to afford the care for these young ones. I myself have made this claim too often when I hear of pro-lifers that are pro-welfare reform or who are against giving money or simply helping organizations that help to insure the stable well-being of an unwanted infant. I don't recall hypocritical advocacy being on the list of a fetus' hierarchy of needs. In t...
