meaning can certainly be extracted from the way the term "person" is
used. From Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1856)
http://www.constitution.org/bouv/bouvier_p.htm we have the definition,
in part:
"A person is a man considered according to the rank he holds in society,
with all the rights to which the place he holds entitles him, and the
duties which it imposes. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 137."
From other legal writings we have that a "person" is a /role/, so that
a single natural individual can be multiple persons, such as a
beneficiary, settlor, trustee, official, parent or guardian, etc. More
than that, however, it is a role in a legal context, so that we consider
something a person that has interests and the ability to assert them.
Only persons have rights or duties, and by a kind of circular
definition, a "person" is that which can have rights and duties under law.
Now while we can consider a foetus to have rights in some sense, it
cannot have duties, and the two concepts go together. The ability to
perform duties may be very elementary, within reach, say, of a normal
infant, but not within reach of a foetus.
The notion of "human life" is simply irrelevant. A flake of skin is
human life, as a DNA test can confirm. But it is not morally autonomous,
it is not a moral actor, that can be held responsible for its actions.
The test of personhood is some minimal level of competence or
performance, and in particular, mental competence or performance. Just
because we don't have a very good test or standard for that doesn't mean
that it is not the fundamental basis for the concept.
-- Jon
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