As noted earlier, abortion has become one of the most widely debated ethical issues of our time. On one side are pro-choice supporters,individuals who favor a woman's reproductive rights, including the right to choose to have an abortion. On the other side are the pro-life advocates who oppose abortion except in extreme circumstances, as when the mother's life would be threatened by carrying a pregnancy to term. At one end of this ethical spectrum are pro-choice defenders who believe the fetus is only a potential human being until it is viable. Until this time the fetus has no legal rightsthe rights belong to the woman carrying the fetus, who can decide whether or not to bring the pregnancy to full term. At the other end of the spectrum are pro-life supporters who believe the fetus is a human being from the time of conception. As such, the fetus has the legal right to life from the moment the egg and sperm unite. Between these positions lies a range of ethical and political positions.
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