ABSTRACT
Even if Tooley were to accept that the post-24-week-old human foetus had an active potential to become a person, and that it is identical to the person it becomes as has been shown in the previous chapters, he would deny that it could have an interest in continued existence. From Tooley’s perspective it is only those beings that fall within the scope of his “particular interest principle” that can have an interest in, and hence a right to, continued existence - and clearly potential persons are not such beings. This chapter will examine the rationale behind Tooley’s position, and investigate the possibility of broadening it in order for it to encompass potential persons.
