Exploring the moral permissibility of abortion : progressive fetal personhood and rights

This thesis assesses the moral permissibility of abortion in relation to the problem of abortion – the difficulty in defining the moral status of the fetus. As opposed to generalizing the moral status of the fetus as a non-person or a person, I argue that a fetus gains personhood progressively. Through close examination of fetal personhood and the rights of the fetus and the pregnant woman, this paper aims to show that the act of abortion is morally permissible insofar that it is done before a certain stage of pregnancy (T). This is based on the premise that before T, the fetus is a non-person and the pregnant woman is thus exercising the rights to her own body.Bachelor of Art