What defines a human being? Personality criteriaEvery human being, at one time or another, asks himself who he is. Some people spend their entire lives searching for an answer. Does asking such questions signify our humanity? And what is it to be human, anyway? I thought a human being was someone who was born, had a mother and a father, and could make decisions about their life for themselves. This became invalid when I realized that newborns cannot make decisions about their lives until they are two or three years old. My very simple perception would become even more complicated as I began to explore the moral issues of abortion and euthanasia. Many view abortion as morally wrong and do so because they believe it is the murder of an innocent human being who has a right to life. I used to think this was a weak argument, because the fetus only truly becomes a human being when its mother gives birth to it. However, after learning about the different stages of reproduction, I began to understand why people considered abortion to be death. I began to wonder if abortion should be allowed at any stage of the reproductive process and after which stage it should not be allowed. And what about cases where the woman does not know she is pregnant until the third trimester and a partial abortion must be performed? Some argue that partial birth abortions constitute the death of a human person because the fetus has a heartbeat; brain waves, lungs, kidneys, and can move and feel pain. I was wondering if abortion in such a case should be allowed and if so, was it the murder of a human being? After much thought, I came to the conclusion that life as we know it does not begin at conception and middle of paper......before medicine until medical ethics course. I always assumed that if someone wanted to die, they could do so without much effort, and I never really thought about the situation of people like Elizabeth Bouvia and Larry Mcafee. Likewise, I never really thought about the situations of comatose patients like Terry Schiavo. To me, it is logical and rational that anyone who is in great pain would want to end that pain. I think if people are suffering physically and mentally there is nothing wrong, it's actually rational, they want to end their lives in the hope of ending this misery and achieving peace . If being able to make decisions is a characteristic of being human, and the only choice we have is to live in misery, with no hope of ever getting better, and in death, the individual's decision between these choices must be respected according to the principle of autonomy.