Abstract This paper revisits the concept of “life” in the abortion debate by drawing an analogy between human fetuses and viruses. We set aside normative and theological considerations and adopt a scientifically Aristotelian approach to the factual question of what counts as a living being. Following Rosalind Hursthouse's wish to avoid metaphysical disputes about fetal status, we re-examine the biological and philosophical criteria for life in the light of Aristotle's theory of substances and contemporary definitions of autoteleonomy – self-sustaining, self-directing activity. Modern biology excludes viruses from the category of life because they lack autonomous metabolism and depend entirely on host organisms for replication. Applying the same criterion consistently, fetuses in early and mid-stage gestation also fail to qualify as independent life forms: they do not regulate or sustain themselves but exist as dependent, parasitic systems within the pregnant body. To grant fetuses the status of life forms while denying it to viruses is therefore inconsistent on strictly biological grounds. We acknowledge that moral, emotional, or social considerations may still warrant treating fetuses as “lives” in symbolic or ethical senses, but such designations lie outside the scope of a biological classification. Our analysis concludes that, if viruses are excluded from the category of life because of parasitic dependence, consistency requires that fetuses be excluded on the same basis.
Häyry et al. (Mon,) studied this question.