definitely many possible topics, and 5) the presence of self-concepts, and self-awareness, either individual, racial, or both. (The Monist, pg. 55) Now, it’s not necessary to have every one of these five characteristics, but one and two are an absolute must and possibly even three. If we hold these standards up to the fetus, we see that it has not even one characteristic, thereby leaving it ok to say that it is not part of the moral community and therefore has no moral status, and no right to life. So, no matter what stage the fetus is in, be it the first trimester or the last, there is absolutely nothing wrong with aborting it. However, if we hold these standards up to several other things we can see that, according to Warren, they too have no moral status or no right to life. For example, there is the person in a persistent vegetative state, which Warren even gives an example of to prove that not all human beings are people: “A man or woman whose consciousness has been permanently obliterated but who retains alive is a human being which is no longer a person, defective human beings, with no appreciable mental capacity, are not and presumably never will be people.” (The Monist, pg. 56) They cannot be considered to have any of the characteristics of people. There are also animals. The majority of them can only fit into characteristic number one, that of consciousness. And there are also infants. They too only fit into number one if they fit into any. Should we be allowed to kill infants or treat them unfairly? Do they not count as part of our community? Warren does have a response to the statement that her reasoning would justify infanticide. She states that it would be wrong to kill infants for consequentialist reasons. She says that infanticide is not the best solution. If we killed our babies we would be depriving other people of happiness. There are other couples that would readily raise our children, and ...
