---

Abortion and Children's Rights

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 7:00pm
UCLA Campus: Ackerman Union 3517

Abortion is a highly controversial issue, dealing primarily with when human life begins and what the source of individual rights is. Although Objectivism lays out the relevant principles clearly (and we will discuss those principles), the application to children's rights is less straightforward.

This week, we will be taking a look at various issues surrounding abortion and children's rights. Please consider the following questions:

• Does a woman have the right to have an abortion?
• When does human life begin, and how does this affect when a living entity (i.e., a child) has rights?
• Given that children do not have as developed a rational faculty as adults do, what rights do they have? What rights don't they have? What is the implication of a child's dependence on his parents?
• How should parents properly raise or care for a child? What issues are mandatory (and should be enforced by law), and what issues are optional? For instance, are parents allowed to foist all sorts of irrational, self-destructive beliefs on their children? Why or why not?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

---