What about babies?

“Chinese couple sold baby to pay for iPhone”

As the title might suggest, an unmarried couple in China made arrangements to auction off their unborn child for 5,000 pounds. This couple alleges that they sold the child for her benefit, reasoning that they wanted her to be better off, with a family that could “provide” for her. However, during this alleged act of kindness, they attempted to hide their pregnancy by telling their neighbors that it was a “tumor”. Then they used the money not to better their current situation, but on luxury goods such as fancy shoes and iphones for the couple.

This article does not cover the issue of adult human rights, but those of children, specifically infants who do not yet have a voice. They can be traded as commodities without much backlash. In China the preference for a male heir is evident; parents abandoning their female children are not a rarity.

Can society protect the rights of a citizen that has set developed a voice? These children are brought to the world without a voice; they had no opinion on what will happen to them and are at the mercy of their guardians. They can be abused, mistreated, or starved and nothing could prevent any of this from happening except for the good will of their parents. While child protective services exist to shield children, they are typically used when the parents commit a crime or the violence at home becomes evident outside of it. Babies are a rarity, and while their duration of their infant state are short it accounts for the majority of their development. And as a fellow human being, they deserves the right to life, liberty, and property, but they should deserve something more, an equal opportunity to grow up to their max potential, no matter what social economic background their biological parents are from.