Abortion is thought of as a contest between the rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn child. This is a mistake. The actual contest is between the mother and the father or whoever is advocating that the child be carried to term. It is just as much aggression to force a woman to bear a child she would rather not have inside of her body as it is against the child to abort it assuming that, ex post, it would not have wanted to be aborted were it allowed to live to the age where it could have a say in the matter.
After a certain point in the pregnancy, abortion only results in the death of the fetus as a matter of choice. This is where viability comes in. If the child is viable - meaning it would more likely live than die were it extracted in a non-destructive manner - then the choice of whether the child will be removed destructively or not may constitute aggression on the part of the mother against the interests of the father in the survival of his offspring. In this case, the father’s right to petition that the child be removed in a non-destructive manner ought to be acknowledged (assuming he was aware of the pregnancy… another separate issue altogether). However, prior to the point of viability, there doesn’t seem to be any way to balance the father’s interests in his potential offspring’s survival against the mother’s interest in controlling her own body without violating the interests of one or the other. Since a mother’s interest in materially controlling her own body clearly takes precedence over a father’s interest in the survival of his offspring which she is carrying, the mother should have plenary power to decide to abort.
Similarly, issues of child rearing and abuse should be analyzed as disputes between the potential guardians of the child, not necessarily as disputes between the child itself and its custodian/guardian. This will permit social/legal norms regarding what is permissible treatment of children to emerge in a way that preserves the natural interests of parents and other biological relatives of children in the health and welfare of those children.
Clayton -