In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that we have each been “endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

He got this from the philosophers John Locke and Adam Smith. Check out the Wiki article below. If you need to write an essay on this, it will give you some ideas.

As far as the right to life, you don’t give us the context of the question that your teacher asked, or what you are supposed to do with it. Next time, give us that info, so we can better help you.

Was your teacher asking about a right you already have, or one that you don’t?

Your teacher may not like you going in this direction, but if you are bold enough you could point out that not all children have the right to life.

Children in India (and in some other third world countries) who are living on the streets, are often executed by police because they are a dangerous, “public nuisance”.

Baby girls delivered by midwives in India are often encouraged to be smothered or left to die of exposure. Poor families in India can’t afford to raise girls, because the dowry they have to pay when the girl marries is so costly.

Babies in our country do not have the right to live in our country if they:

Are the wrong size – If they are just a small fetus, the size of your thumbnail, our supreme court has given mothers the right to execute them.

Are in the wrong location- if they are inside a mother’s womb, it is legal to execute them. A baby the same age, outside the mother’s womb has the right to life. (Say if it was premature). But inside the womb, the baby has no right to life.

Are too Immature – if the baby isn’t as developed as you or I, then it does not have the right to life. If it can’t breathe, or eat on it’s own.

don’t look “human” – regardless of DNA, regardless of the fact that they are alive, if they don’t look like us, but are just a little bundle of cells or a zygote, then they do not have the right to life.

This matters, because it could be a slippery slope. What happenes when any child loses his or her right to life because he or she isn’t big enough, smart enough, independent enough, happens to be in the wrong place, or is just a burden on his or her parents?

Every child should have the right to life, even if they are “unwanted”.

Boy, that would be some essay if you have the courage and conviction to write it!