The young woman is defending her abortion choice because the baby is unwanted for the hardship it would likely cause her and itself later on as a child. But again, only with the assumption that the fetus is not a person does this argument have any merit. For if the fetus is a person, then surely “hardship does not justify homicide,” as philosopher Frank Beckwith puts it. In addition, if the fetus is a person, then the argument based on unwantedness justifies taking the lives of many adults who are widely perceived as unwanted, including the homeless and the severely mentally challenged.
...more
