Sra,—I would like to reply to Mr de la Bedoyere's
question.
The non-viable foetus is not conscious of itself as a human being, and this seems to me to be the most important characteristic it lacks, which is essential to living a truly 'human' life, as opposed to enduring a vegetable existence. (Of course, there are other characteristics too, such as a total and absolute dependence on another human being, in this case the mother, that is also of some relevance.) The potential mother, however, is conscious of herself as a truly human being, which is to say, a decision-making, choice:taking animal, not a mere breeding animal, as she so often appears in Catholic dogma.
I am sorry Mr de la Bedoyere has had to wait four years for such a self-evident answer, and sur- prised he could not have thought of it himself in the long period he has evidently meditated upon the subject.
M. VAUGHAN 95 Court Road, London. SE9
[This correspondence is now closed.—Editor,
SPECTATOR.]
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