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Comment by orbital223 | Hacker News Reader

> They can't claim a fucking fetus is a person and then not give it rights.

Of course they can, we do it all the time. Children, for example, are people and they have very limited rights (especially in the area of freedom of movement).

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Children so have rights. Some of them are restricted. But even then you wouldn’t throw a child into prison for a crime committed by their parents.

If the child would die without the parent you would. Maybe not for petty crimes, but if the parent is a murderer they need to be in prison. If they are in prison, the fetus needs to be in prison to escape death.

No, we don't do that. Most children would die without some kind of care, but we don't put them in prison if their parents are criminals. We make sure they are cared for by someone else.

(The systems for that are in terrible shape too, but that's a separate issue.)

Right. We place them with other adults such as grandparents, aunts/uncles, foster care, etc. I fail to see how this would work for fetuses.

> Children do have rights. Some of them are restricted.

Exactly, therefore the claim in OP that "They can't claim a fucking fetus is a person and then not give it rights." isn't really sound. Our legal systems already claim that some beings (children in this example) are persons but that they aren't entitled to the full range of rights that adults enjoy.

Please do note that I'm not trying to argue any related issues (such as the legality of abortions), just that claim made by OP.

Rights come with responsibility. If you can fend for yourself then you can probably do as you please even as a child. However if you need someone to feed you and protect you then surely you concede some rights.

"Oh, it's all right, my son fends for himself during the seasons the snow's not on the ground. That's why he wasn't in class the last few months."

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