2a: Binary Properties

Most pro-choicers¹ intuitively recognize that personhood is a binary concept, with a discrete beginning and end. Implicitly, then, they predicate personhood on a binary property. One way to do this is to assign some threshold of moral meaning to the continuum of dependence or cognition. In other words, the pro-choicer could identify a point along the continuum that serves to divide the spectrum cleanly in two. This is precisely what many pro-choicers do.

Such a threshold between non-person and person must mark a significant transition in the property selected. This is because the distinction between person and non-person is quite profound—there is a fundamental difference between something with intrinsic moral value and something that can be treated instrumentally. As we have already seen, a candidate threshold must also correspond to a discrete moment in development rather than a gradual process in order to reflect the binary nature of personhood.

It is worth emphasizing this point. Since personhood is binary, its beginning must be a discrete moment. Because there is a fundamental difference between person and non-person, this moment must mark a profound transition of some kind. The pro-choicer must find a discrete developmental landmark that instantiates a sudden large change in a property relevant to personhood. To be breathing on one’s own and to be viable are two such thresholds along the continuum of dependence. The ability to form conscious desires and the initiation of brainwaves, which round out our list of binary candidates, are proposed thresholds along the continuum of mental activity. Let us consider them one by one.