Thought Provoking Issue Raised by an Abortion Protester

Will deal with this later, but thought I'd quick log it before I forgot. (If I log it, my anti-choice associates will "remind" me that I haven't responded to it :-)

If one presumes that a fetus starts as a fertilized egg and eventually becomes a "pre-born" baby in the womb (as I do) and if one presumes (as I do) that a fetus has no "right to life" whereas a baby - in the womb or out of the womb - is entitled to have its interests represented regarding a decision to abort, what is one to make of medical technology that is pushing back "viability" to earlier and earlier weeks?

A protester told me fetus' have survived out of the womb as early as (if I remember correctly) three or four months - which I find very early and plan to confirm via some research.

Nonetheless, even as a thought experiment, what if doctors were technically capable of extracting a fertilized egg from a womb and basically continue to "grow" it in some type of artificial womb?

Does that change the ethical issue at all?

I suspect not (as I don't believe "viability outside of the womb" is the key test), but it is worth giving a decent think.

Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA