Chapter 11: Abortion

1
Chapter 11 Abortion

• Key terms Prolife, prochoice, proabortion, and
  antichoice
• Stages of Fetal Development
• Methods of Abortion

2
Chapter 11 continued

• Abortion and the Law
• Is abortion immoral or illegal?
• Roe v. Wade and the trimester approach
• Planned Parenthood v. Casey and the undue burden
  approach
• 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld the ban
  on partial birth abortion
• Abortion Is it a Moral Question?

3
Chapter 11 continued

• Arguments that Do Not Depend on the Moral Status
  of the Fetus
• Utilitarian reasoning
• Some rights arguments

4
Chapter 11 continued

• Arguments that Do Depend on the Moral Status of
  the Fetus
• Method I Fetal Development
• Conception or fertilization
• Detectable brain waves
• Quickening
• Viability

5
Chapter 11 continued

• Method II Moral Status and the Right to Life
• Being Human
• Being Like Human Beings
• Potentiality
• Actuality
• Evolving Value

6
Chapter 11 continued

• Reading A Defense of Abortion
• Begin by assuming that the fetus is a person form
  the moment of conception
• - The violinist example
• The extreme position abortion is never
  permissible
• Abortion and a limited right to self-defense

7
Chapter 11 continued

• The four theses
• The box of chocolates
• Clarifying the meaning of a right
• Minimally Decent Samaritanism

8
Chapter 11 continued

• Reading Why Abortion is Immoral
• The basic assumption in the abortion debate
• The typical anti-abortion strategy
• The typical pro-choice strategy
• The standoff

9
Chapter 11 continued

• Why is it wrong to kill an adult human being?
• The wrongness of killing and the loss of a future
• Support for the loss of a future argument
• The prima facie wrongness of abortion
• The permissibility of contraception