From The author replies
It’s an interesting question. The thing about babies is that they eventually become grown-ups (except in those few and genuinely tragic circumstances we all hope to avoid); animals, on the other hand, are animals their whole life long. If a world existed in which babies never grew up, I suppose we might wonder whether they would have the same expectation of absolute human rights.
I have two young kids of my own. Does the fact that I and my wife cared for them when they were too young to look after themselves mean that they have a duty to look out for us when we become old and incapable? I’d like to think so. They might disagree, I suppose.
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