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LESSON 6

THE PRO-LIFE REPLY TO:

"A Fetus Is Not A Person"

"A fetus is not a person; it’s a clump of cells." You’ve heard abortion advocates make this pseudo-scientific argument before. But what happens when we deny a group of people their personhood?

The Holocaust, enslavement of African Americans, and the oppression of women, to name a few atrocities.

Dr. Christopher Kaczor, Professor of Philosophy and author of the book, "The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice," digs into the moral and literal meaning of personhood and details exactly why it applies to preborn children.

4:42 mins

Lesson Points

  • The terms “human being” and “person” do belong to different categories
  • Human being is a biological term
  • Person is mainly a moral term, referring to an individual’s value, or rights
  • It’s a scientific fact that preborn babies are human beings
  • Every time in history that we’ve decided a group of people are not persons with value and rights, it’s ended in horrible tragedy
  • S.L.E.D. acronym:
    - Size is irrelevant for a person’s value
    - Lack of rationality is never grounds for mistreating someone
    - Environment does not determine personhood
    - Dependency does not determine personhood
  • Every human being is a person, with intrinsic dignity, and should be given basic human rights

Ways to Take Action

Write out the SLED acronym and share with two pro-life friends to help teach them how to effectively communicate why the preborn are people too.

Related Resources

Video
June 2
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The Magical Birth Canal

 – 1:19
Analysis June 1

Article in Harvard Law Journal concludes: The preborn child is a constitutional person

Analysis May 14

The Constitution, deprivation of life, and personhood

Human Rights November 26

Doctor on prenatal surgery: If the baby is a patient, then he’s also a person

Guest Column February 18

GUEST COLUMN Former abortionist: 'What’s in the womb is a person… not a blob of tissue’

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