Webster says autonomous is:
a : existing or capable of existing independently

By this definition, a baby is not autonomous since it relies completely on
its mother for shelter and nourishment for many months after its born. Just
as it does before it is born.


"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

Except a fetus is not a human being...it's a fetus. A human being is
an
autonomous being and a fetus is just the opposite.


In humans, a fetus is the unborn young from the end of the eighth week
after
conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier
embryo.

Nice lesson in biology, but totally irrelevant.

A fetus is a human being.

A fetus is a fetus and will remain a fetus until it's an autonomous being.
Prior to that, it's an appendage of the mother.

You can call a leg and arm, but until it has fingers rather than toes,
it's
still a leg. The operative word here, in a legal, rather than biological
sense, is AUTOMOMOUS.