This thesis is primarily concerned with the legal status of the unborn in international law. It
investigates the lack of jurisprudence concerning the legal status of the unborn in this area of
law and contends that such a lacuna is unacceptable. The unacceptability of this lack of
discourse is highlighted in light of the concept of rationality; and rationality is presented as
the best alternative method to deal with the legal status of the unborn, based on various
justifications showing that the current method of legal discourse is not only devoid of
rationality but inadequate to deal with this problem. Rational procedural and substantive
attempts are then promoted to advance the legal status of the unborn in international law.
Here the thesis emphasises the importance of taking into account requirements of humanity,
sensitivity to animals and fairness, and continues to investigate the irrationality of abortion
jurisprudence by arguing that the sole use of human rights and more specifically, the right to
life and womenâs rights, as determining the legal status of the unborn is part of the problem.
Rationality requires an inclusive and sensitive approach and therefore, the sole use of
concepts such as human rights, to the exclusion of science, anthropology, humanity and
international justice, amongst others, are argued to be irrational. Scientific and
anthropological consideration is also very important, not only to present an inclusive
approach, but because these disciplines present us with some of the few convincing facts that
can be used to aid philosophers when dealing with a topic where assumption and argument,
rather than facts, are ample. However, this thesis does not pretend that a final or absolute
solution on the legal status of the unborn is possible as cultural and ethical relativism as well
as ideological affiliations present a problem to obtaining a universal rational outcome on the
legal status of the unborn. However, it is stated that the possibility of a universal rational
outcome, which represents an improvement on the contemporary situation, does exist and
therefore, it would be irrational if such possibility were not attempted on rational grounds by
way of procedure and substance, taking into account requirements of humanity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-04082009-151942 |
| Date | 08 April 2009 |
| Creators | Myburgh, Georgia A |
| Contributors | Prof SA de Freitas |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-04082009-151942/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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