@Alex They can still communicate via mouthing. They can blink their eyes in Morse code or in binary.

An animal can communicate their pain through various nonverbal means as well. Their inability to speak our language doesn't deprive them of their rights any more than someone who's forced to communicate via morse code. I don't know about you, but I don't know morse code - the person in this theoretical certainly couldn't communicate with me.

To extend this - your argument is that a human needs to be capable of communicating to have rights. This means that a human who is unable to communicate would logically lack rights. A child who was never taught to speak, or someone stuck in a land where no one speaks their language, or the victim of some horrific accident that deprived them of their ability to speak, would lack rights in such a scenario. If an organization was to breed human slave labor and never teach any of them how to speak or communicate, would any of those people have rights, since they're unable to petition for their rights?

@Alex I don't care about the severely retarded. It's basically the same argument about pulling the plug on a brain-dead person. As for foreign language, you can communicate with hand signals that anyone can have a basic idea. That's how the European explorers were able to communicate with the natives.

@Alex @xianc78
I am so happy to see you too are against abortions.

I'm morally opposed to abortion but also believe in an absolute right to bodily autonomy and by extension support it remaining legal.

@georgia @Alex @xianc78 the 60s?