Letters to the editor - January 20, 2022

Foetus or stillbirth not a person

Kenneth Cassar (January 16) is correct when drawing the important scientific and ethical distinction between a “potential person” (foetus or unborn child) and a legally real person that has been state registered at birth and has a “soul” according to religious belief – foeti and stillbirths are not recognised and registered as persons by any credible state around the world, nor does the Christian faith claim they’re going to “heaven”.

The democracies with legalised abortion usually permit that up to around 24 weeks’ gestation, not because foetal consciousness starts around that time (as Cassar claims) but because foetal lungs approach maturity around that gestation time – before that, foetal lungs are not developed enough to permit breathing and independent life outside the mother’s womb.

What about consciousness? This is not simply responding to touch or a painful stimulus; it involves observation, registering and memory; only the more highly-evolved animals have this ability, with humans at the top of the consciousness scale, which unfortunately comes at a cost – they are conscious of death. Consciousness is the closest science can associate...