ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author offers a response to Bertha Alvarez Manninen on several issues and discusses some of the arguments Manninen gives on the issue of personhood. While the author find Manninen to be a thoughtful interlocutor, she will need to respond to some of her arguments, and this will include some critique both of the premises she uses to defend her arguments and some critique of how much purchase she takes her arguments to have. A coroner can give the verdict that one's death was caused by homicide without any knowledge of factors having to do with motive, aggravating circumstances, pre-meditation, or provocation. For this reason, the author must assent to Manninen's claim that the destruction of embryos would constitute homicide. Manninen analyzes the decision in Davis v. Davis, where the crucial line she quotes is "Ordinarily, the party wishing to avoid procreation should prevail".
