Human Rights and the Unborn - Angela Shanahan

With the death of the unborn, language varies with the situation. If a child dies during pregnancy following maternal illness the media speak of  'the unborn child'. In contrast, an aborted baby is most often called 'the foetus'. Inconsistency arises from denying the child a legal right to live in promoting the mother's legal right to abort. The author argues this to be invalid as the right to live must be most basic. This is reflected in international law (Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Declaration of the Rights of the Child) despite attempts to deny it and national legislation. Pro-abortionists have successfully set up their own charters and changed the notion of natural rights into 'a plethora of non-rights'. The wide-ranging effects are particularly acute internationally in bodies like the UN and its Population Fund (UNFPA).

© Quadrant Magazine (Sydney)