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The third difference between an embryo or fetus and a newborn baby is their place of residence. Embryos and fetuses live inside the womb, and newborn babies live outside the womb. Just like the distinctions that have gone before (size and development), this, too, is an inconsequential difference. Where someone lives has nothing to do with the essence of who that someone is. Moving from the bedroom to the kitchen, or from indoors to outdoors, or from your car to the mall doesn't affect your personhood in the least. Personhood stems from inclusion in the human species not from the location in which you reside.
For the entire duration of pregnancy, the tiny unborn child is a human being all it's own. It is dependent upon its mother for many life-sustaining functions, but it is certainly not part of its mothers body. Any attempt to disqualify unborn children from receiving their due rights of personhood because they live in a womb rather than in a room is dishonest and unjust. Location doesn't affect the personhood of those outside the womb, and it shouldn't affect the personhood of those inside the womb.
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