A Science Fiction Approach To Abortion

First off, let me start by saying I don’t think abortion can ever be solved politically, at least for those who are against it. Instead, change comes through individuals deciding not to abort, either because they never have an accidental pregnancy, or they get their life situated so they’d welcome offspring, or they have their own moral code that forbids it. It is already known that Gen X and Millennials have aborted less than the Boomers. But why does abortion still make me nervous?

One thing I have never seen discussed anywhere concerning abortion is whether or not we should give anything that can be described as being human the human right to life. Well, I take that back, as I’ve seen it argued whether or not animals or robots or sentient AI or aliens would deserve human rights.

I merely take that thought to its next logical step, which is: what about humans who have been downloaded into a computer or are otherwise not-fully-human? Let’s assume for a moment that we reach a stage where we can beat death through technology. How do we treat those people? What rights do they have? The way I see it, they can be euthanized or aborted simply because people could argue that they are technically parasites using electricity. Because the abortion argument rests so mightily on whether or not a fetus is human, I know that any future citizen who tries to beat natural death via technology will also be claimed to be not human at some point, especially if the consciousness that survives death is accused of wrongthink and is seen as needing to be cancelled.

I feel that it is important to figure this out now before we reach the level of technology to bypass death. Unborn persons need to have the same level of protection under the law as any other person if we are ever to guarantee the safety of the existence of simulated people, transhumans, cyborgs, human-AI synthetics, hybrids, and whatever else may come along. As it stands, if you are not seen as human you are expendable.