Originally Posted by
Vellauno
Ah, she was consenting to and acknowledging the possible risk of carrying a 'parasite' that belongs to both parents should something unexpected/unwanted happen. Also, not HIS parasite, THEIR parasite. If it is HIS parasite only and he did not want to get her pregnant, then she stole it from him without his consent and she is threatening to destroy it rather than give it back because of the inconvenience and possible risk it could pose to her over the next 9 months.
I could equally argue using your words
"No. No. No. No. He wasn't consenting to give her his parasite. He was only consenting to having a sexual encounter with her." Don't forget, we are talking about in situation where both parties did not want to have a child but one was created anyways. Both parties knew the risk.
Whether a fetus is considered a baby or not is 100% ethical/subjective. Some people believe it is a baby, some that it is a fetus. Contrary to what you may believe, I am on the fence about that one. None the less, I believe both sides have a right to their opinion and neither are correct or incorrect, simply differing in opinion. Thus, I will defer to you for argument sake and call it a thing, not a living being.
I agree that the body of the mother belongs to the mother; however, the lump of genetic material inside her belongs to both the father AND the mother. Now that it is there, unintentionally by both parties, the parents are forced between two choices, remove it and consequently destroy it or let it grow into a baby. The mother says "If we want to let it grow, we have to leave it on MY property (in my body) for 9 months where I have to take care of it by myself, so even though it is half yours, I get to decide if we destroy it or not". The father refutes "I did not want it on your property (in your body), but since I can't take it off without destroying it for the next 9 months, leave it there until I can come get it". I take the side of the father in this case since both parties knew this might happen and now that it did, the only way to remove it without destroying it is to leave it there for the next 9 months. Despite this, as pure property, I can accept either side of the argument however if not for one problem in this scenario, mother may think it is a 'thing' while father thinks it is a 'person'.
And here is where ultimately, I have to undisputedly side with the father. There is simply no way to prove that a fetus is a living thing or not, it is all opinion at this point (if it was indisputable, there would be no debates about weather abortion is murder or not). As such, to remove the fetus would force the father with a lifetime of psychological trauma due to the accident of himself and his sexual partner being responsible for the murder of their own child. The mother may not see it that way, but choosing between forcing someone to face a life of believing they murdered someone and forcing a mother to go through 9 month of trauma, I will chose the 9 months of trauma simply because it is the lesser of two evils (both options suck though, so don't get in this situation).