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Rath said: "A reasonable conclusion is that a fetus is a person when it is viable without being inside its mothers womb, once again there is no clearly defined point at which this is the case however it is usually accepted that a child born before around the 24th week of pregnancy is unlikely to survive."

Such logic faces problems, since viability is dependent on the medical technology available. It would be odd to suggest that a 26 week old Scandinavian foetus is a person because their medical technology is so good while a 28 week old Rwandan foetus is not a person because the medical technology isn't so good. Also, as medical research progresses further and further, it will be possible to save the lives of those born prematurely earlier and earlier. Ultimately, the argument that personhood begins at the point of viability could become the argument that such a point is conception.