Abortion: Child as maximum

Anti-abortionists often claim that the pro-choice side believes that the fetus is just a blob of tissue with absolutely no rights at all. This is not necessarily true. The idea of abortion is not inconsistent with granting any rights to the fetus. One early consideration is the "child as maximum" principle, which I discussed about a month ago with regards to the Utah case, where a woman was charged for not submitting to a C-section against her will.

A quick summary of the "child as maximum" principle:

b. our obligation to ensure the fetus's welfare can equal but not exceed our obligation to a born child
c. child as a maximum principle emphasizes that our duties to a born child constitute an upper bound for our duties to a fetus rather than a strict equivalent, because the potential for wronging one person (mother) in effort to aid another (fetus) will be greater

As I explained this principle previously:

An easier way to think of it would be to ask what a father would be expected to do for his born child. If it is acceptable to force a father to undergo surgery against his will for a live child, then it might be acceptable to do so for a fetus. You can't even think about charging a mother for drinking during pregnancy unless you are willing to charge a father for drinking around his born children.

Some people don't believe in this principle at all, I was having an argument on another blog and I asked, somewhat rhetorically, if a father should be forced to donate a kidney to his daughter (to save her life) if it was against his will. The answer was surprising:

We generally require parents to take affirmative acts to protect their children. So sure

I suspect/hope that this guy was posturing for the sake of his anti-abortion position.

When I look at the abortion debate, the child as maximum principal impacts very strongly upon my views. I look at the obligations of a mother to her born child, and I take great efforts to ensure that the obligations of a mother to her fetus do not exceed her obligation to the child when it is born.

(to be continued later on tonight)