This volume provides a framework for thinking clearly and coherently about the unborn. The book's thesis, the "interest view", states that all and only beings who have interests have moral standing, and only beings who possess conscious awareness have interests. The chapters apply the interest view and explore the moral and legal aspects of a wide range of issues. These centre on the inconsistency of the status of foetuses. Are they part of the pregnant woman, or are they people in their own right? Women have been criminally charged with abusing their foetuses by using drugs during pregnancy and yet abortion is legal. Readers should be able to resolve these contradictions in current thinking about the unborn and approach new issues in a rational manner.
