ABSTRACT
The final application of the interest- and goal-based theories of rights will be to the issue of abortion. Those who endorse the permissibility of abortion typically point to a "right to choose" possessed by the mother, which renders prohibition of abortion impermissible. For liberals, abortion violates no right to life; on the contrary, denying the opportunity to abort violates the woman's right to choose. The concept of personhood frequently plays a prominent role in simple arguments for or against the permissibility of abortion. The implication for the abortion context is that the answer to the question of whether or not a particular fetus has a right to life is partly a function of whether the circumstances in that particular pregnancy allow for the mother to execute the duty. Potentialities may have ramifications for a forward-looking moral theory and so may be relevant to the question of abortion within the goal-based theory of rights.
