Right to life

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

The proposed right:

No person shall harm or kill another person except in defense, or law enforcement, or lawful military combat.

No person shall harm or kill a pregnant female’s unborn child except in defense, or law enforcement, or lawful military combat.

Intent:

Killing someone in violation of this right is the crime of murder.

Harming someone in violation of this right may be called various things such as assault, battery, domestic violence, child abuse, medical malpractice, or something else depending on the situation.

The term unborn child, as used in this proposed right, means a child in utero, at any stage of development. It also refers to a child developing in an artificial uterus. It does not refer to any embryo that is waiting to be transferred to a uterus, nor any earlier stage of the embryo such as the sperm or eggs before fertilization. The difference is that an embryo in the uterus is on track to developing into a baby, whereas an embryo that is in storage is not on track to developing into a baby.

Since unborn children generally don’t pose a threat to others, the prohibition on harming or killing an unborn child except means defense from violence by the mother, or if the mother commits a crime and attacks or threatens law enforcement with a weapon, or if the mother is an enemy combatant or unintentional civilian casualty in war, or if a pregnancy threatens the mother’s life and there is no way to save both mother and unborn child an abortion is considered a defense of the mother.

Discussion:

If a person’s life is in danger, there is an obligation to help. However, a person’s inaction or failure to help does not itself constitute murder.

Pregnant females

The prohibition on harming or killing a pregnant female’s unborn child is intended to protect the unborn child from violence by others. The exceptions are important:

* Defense against the mother — if a pregnant female is attacking someone and that person is defending themselves and during the altercation or as a consequence of the altercation the unborn child is harmed or killed
* Law enforcement against the mother — if a pregnant female fires at law enforcement and officers fire back
* The mother is an enemy combatant — in a war all enemy combatants are legitimate targets of violence, even if they are pregnant
* The mother is a civilian casualty — in a war, the military must attempt to minimize civilian casualties but it is not always avoidable; therefore if a pregnant mother is a casualty and therefore the unborn child is a casualty, it is tragic but should not be considered a war crime if in the same situation any other person being harmed instead would not be considered a war crime
* The mother is at risk due to the pregnancy — a doctor performing an abortion is acting in defense of the mother, and this must not be considered a crime; see also abortion in female rights.

The right to life of the unborn child can be in conflict with the mother’s right to parental control. The abortion proposal outlines how these two can be balanced. The references to the right to life of the unborn child in this proposed right are limited to the right to life of an unborn child whose mother did not intend to abort the pregnancy.

Suicide

If a person is intent on committing suicide, people who know about this have an obligation to help preserve the person’s life by influencing them to seek mental health or medical assistance instead. The person may be temporarily physically restrained to ensure they have the opportunity to recover, if that’s possible. However, a person who is intent on suicide due to unmanageable and uncurable physical pain or inconsolable mental anguish and for whom no further interventions are available, and continues to insist on ending their own life, must be allowed to do so. Forcing someone to stay alive under such conditions of agony, and keeping them restrained to prevent their suicide, also prevents them from deriving any benefit or enjoyment from staying alive. For this reason, after all reasonable and available interventions have been attempted, providing a person with suicide assistance shall be considered as upholding their right to dignity and shall not be considered a violation of their right to life. Legislatures should enact laws to protect people by defining a process by which the community can ascertain that all reasonable and available interventions have been attempted, and that the person continues to suffer from unmanageable and uncurable physical pain or inconsolable mental anguish, and thereby release a provider of suicide assistance from liability.

Comparison with the United States:

In the United States Constitution, the Fifth Amendment states “No person all be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”.

Comparison with the United Nations:

Article 3 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

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