Abstract
According to the view of Peter Singer, only persons deserve a right to life. As a consequence, a human being can claim such a right only at a certain point of its postnatal development and there is no essential moral difference between infanticide and abortion. Against this view, it is argued that - even on the basis of personhood as the fundamental criterion - there are convincing pragmatical reasons for attributing a right to life in social practice at the point of birth. It is also shown how this position can be combined with a morally satisfactory position on the important problem of the treatment of infants who are severely handicapped.
© 1990 by Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart