Nancy Cope's argument (Aug. 3 letters to the editor) regarding alligator eggs and human embryos is a non-sequitur.

The case for abortion rights is not damaged because a human embryo will, under the right circumstances, become a human baby.

The case for abortion rights is premised on the fact that an embryo or fetus is housed within another human being (that is to say, its mother) and, until the point of individuation, has no rights apart from its mother.

To confer rights upon a fetus is to nullify the rights of the mother and totally abrogates the meaning of the concept.