portant questions about abortion. The first is "what properties must
             someone have in order to be considered a person, i.e., to have a serious
             right to life?" Tooley answers that anything which completely lacks
             consciousness, like ordinary machines, cannot have rights. If a being does
             not desire something such as consciousness, it is impossible to deprive
             that being of his right to it. In other words, Tooley argues that since a
             fetus does not show outward desires to have life, it is morally permissible
             to abort that fetus. There are three exceptions to this rule that need to
             be clarified. First, if the being is in a temporary emotionally unbalanced
             state, such as a deep depression, he should still be allowed rights to life.
             Secondly, if the being is unconscious due to sleep or some sort of trauma,
             he should not be deprived of his rights to life. Finally, if the person has
             been brainwashed by a religious cult or any similar institution into
             wanting death, he should still be given a right to life.
             The second question addressed by Tooley is "at what point in the
             development of a member of the species Homo Sapiens does the organism
             possess the properties that make it a person?" The law in America currently
             implies that the fetus possesses the properties that make it a person when
             it reaches the third trimester or the sixth month of its germination inside
             the uterus. Is this a reasonable assessment of when a fetus has a right to
             life? Tooley says "No". An organism does not have a right to life unless
             it possesses the concept of a self as a continuous being of mental states.
             This definition of possessing a right to life can be applied to newborn
             babies that do not yet have a concept of a self as a continuous being.
             Therefore, it is morally acceptable to deprive them of their right to life,
             for they don't show desire for life. According to Tooley, the fetus does
             not have a r...