the preborn?” If we believe in equal human rights, is the preborn included in that group?  What is it about people that gives us all equal rights?  We are all so different! Does it make sense that there is something the same about us that give us all equal rights?  If the preborn child shares in whatever that is, then they should also have an equal right to life, right?  So, what is it that we all share that gives us equal rights? Whatever it is would have to be the same for newborns and adults, but not animals.  It can’t be anything that varies in degree, like size, or intelligence, because then bigger or smarter people would have more rights than others.  People might say that the preborn is not person because it can’t think or is not self-aware.  What do they mean by thinking? Perhaps we could say some kind of mental process to make a decision. Well, animals can do that – they decide where to go, when to run away, etc.  And it is generally agreed that newborn infants are not self-aware, but elephants are.

       The preborn child differs from older humans in four ways: Size, Level of development, Environment, and Dependency.  (Remembered with the acronym SLED.)  If we agree that bigger people don’t have more rights than smaller people, and teens don’t have a greater right to life than a toddler, then difference in size or level of development shouldn’t mean that the preborn child has any less right to life than a newborn or a toddler.  The preborn is inside the womb, and other people are outside, but are you less of a person if you are under water? Does something magically change when a child is born that suddenly gives him human rights?  So that leaves dependency.  Yes, the preborn child is dependent on the mother, but so is a newborn dependent on someone to feed and protect him.  Some adults are dependent on insulin shots or dialysis to stay alive. So, none of these differences should deprive the preborn child of an equal right to life.  The thing we all share equally is simply our humanity.

Taken from materials in ERI’s Equipped for Life course.