Abortion Continued

1
Abortion Continued

• Chapter 8

2
Kantian Pro-life Arguments

• Fetuses are human beings
• Human beings should not be used merely as a means
• Abortion generally uses a fetus for the mothers
  ends
• Abortion is generally wrong

3
Kantian Pro-life Arguments

• Not all abortions violate Kants means-end
  principle, as there are cases in which the
  abortion is done (presumably) for the sake of the
  fetus. The assumption here is that some lives
  might not be worth living.
• Debilitating Diseases
• Birth Defects

4
Kantian Pro-choice Arguments

• The fetus is also using the mother.
• Respect for moral agency requires voluntary,
  informed consent
• Respect for the mothers agency requires her
  consent
• No one has the right to force her consent

5
Kantian Pro-choice Arguments

• Roe v. Wade (Justice Douglas)
• People have a right to autonomy over development
  of intellect, interests, tastes, personality
• Freedom to choose lifestyle, including marriage,
  procreation
• Childbirth may deprive woman of preferred
  lifestyle
• So, a woman has a right to abortion

6
Kantian Pro-life Response

• Objection May a woman kill her children if they
  interfere with her preferred lifestyle?
• Alternate Response We may do as we please as
  long as we dont harm (Mill) or use (Kant) other
  persons
• However, the question remains Ought we to
  consider fetuses persons?

7
Thomsons Argument

• Thomson criticizes the premise that its wrong to
  kill anything with a right to life
• A fetus has a right to life ltgt others shouldnt
  kill the fetus unjustly
• So, we can conclude that abortion is wrong only
  by showing that it is unjust killing
• Justice is prior stems from mothers right to
  her own body

8
Violinist

• You may unplug yourself from the violinist, even
  if doing that kills him
• You have not given him a right to use your body
• So, unplugging yourself is not unjust killing
  (analogy rape)

9
Obligations to others

• Maybe the mother is obligated even so (imperfect
  rather than perfect obligation)
• How much must we do for others?
• Our obligations are minimal
• But abortion is wrong only if we must be good
  Samaritans toward others

10
Degrees of generosity

• Splendid Samaritan risks life to help others in
  need
• Good Samaritan endures significant cost to help
  others in need
• Minimally Decent Samaritan does something to
  help others in need

11
Utilitarian Pro-life Arguments

• Harms of abortion
• Death of the fetus (some studies estimate that a
  fetus is aborted every 30 seconds)
• Pain of the fetus (half of all abortions
  performed after the fetus can feel pain)
• Risk of injury to the mother
• Loss of respect for life

12
Utilitarian Pro-life Arguments

• There are alternatives to abortion that are less
  harmful
• Birth control 50 of abortions performed on
  women who used no other form of birth control
• 40 of all women who have abortions have more
  than one
• Adoption 2 million couples waiting to adopt, but
  only 50,000 babies put up for adoption each year

13
Marquiss Pro-life Argument

• What makes death bad, and murder wrong?
• The loss of a human future
• A fetus has a human future
• Abortion deprives it of that future
• So, abortion is wrong, and for just the same
  reason that murder is wrong

14
Utilitarian Pro-choice Arguments

• Harms to the mother
• Physical harm
• Psychological harm
• Caring for child can be a burden
• Physical and mental health
• Distressful life and future
• Inability to care for child

15
Utilitarian Pro-choice Arguments

• Child may suffer
• Aborted fetuses would otherwise develop into
  unwanted children who may suffer from abuse
  and/or poverty due to neglectful or economically
  unstable parents.
• Criminalizing abortion would be worse
• Legal abortion must remain an option otherwise,
  pregnant women would seek other less safe means
  of terminating the fetus.

16
Virtue Ethics Considerations

• Does the act of abortion help to cultivate any
  poor character traits, or serve to hinder the
  formation of any virtues?
• Responsibility
• Prudence
• Respect for Life

17
Questions for Discussion

• Does the reason for an abortion make a difference
  in determining the moral value of the act?

18
Questions for Discussion

• Whose rights count more, the rights of the mother
  or the rights of the fetus? Why?

19
Questions for Discussion

• Should a woman be limited to a certain number of
  abortions?

20
Questions for Discussion

• Is putting a child up for adoption more morally
  praiseworthy than having an abortion?