This paper considers the New Right's cult of fetal personhood and a 1968 science fiction film, 2007: A Space Odyssey (by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke) as aspects of an ideological apparatus which addresses extinction fears only to distract us from the exterminist practices of the military-industrial com-plex. The film is read as part of the debate on reproductive politics, while the pro-life position is understood in relation to science fiction culture. The paper also aims to find arguments to counter the charge that it is morally inconsistent to condone abortion-the termination of individual pregnancies-while opposing nuclear weapons, which could bring about extinction, defined by Jonathan Schell as the death of all unborn generations.'The perspective forwarded here

* The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments and criticisms of Professors Hayden White and Donna Haraway of the History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz, on earlier versions of this paper; fruitful debates with colleague Mary Crane, also of the History of Consciousness, who shared with me her own research materials on the abortion question; and the ongoing moral and political encouragement of friend Gail Rich, who was with this project from its inception. The author's studies in the USA have been made possible by grants from Caltex (Australia) and the Fulbright Foun-dation.