Philosophy 230
Outline:  Morality of Abortion


I.  Crucial distinctions and concepts
        --Morality vs. legality of abortion
        --In virtue of what does a thing have a right to life?
        --What does a right to life involve?
        --What is a person? (A human being?)

II.  Marquis' argument for that "abortion is prima facie seriously morally wrong" (467)

        --problems with standard arguments on each side
                --anti-abortion arguments often depend on controversial religious premises
                        --problems with appeal to potential
                --pro-abortion arguments often seem to condone infanticide (theoretical slippery-slope!)

        --Marquis' first step:  Why is it wrong to kill you or me?
                --depriving me of my valuable future
                        --implications for euthanasia, anencephaly, PVS...

                        --dismissing alternatives
                                --discontinuation account:  discountinuing my valuable experience
                                --desire account:  interfering with my desire to go on living

                        --Is consciousness or desire to live necessary for a right to life?

        --The contraception objection (theoretical slippery-slope!)
                --what is being deprived of a future?

III.  Steinbock's defense

        --Steinbock's interest view
                --only beings who have interests have moral status (can be wronged)
                --sentience is necessary for having interests
                        --fetuses (up to 12 weeks) are not sentient, therefore have no moral status

        --rejecting infanticide:  newborns have interests, thus have moral status.

        --problem case:  temporary unconsciousness
                --previous desires survive unconsciousness

        --Response to Marquis
                --does a fetus have a future?
                --Is there an account of personal identity that distinguishes fetuses from gametes?
                --the case of reproductive technology (isolating single egg, sperm)

        --Since fetuse (up to 12 weeks) have no moral status, and since pregnancy makes
            significant demands on the mother, abortion is "almost always morally permissible" (471)

IV.  Thomson's defense

        --Assuming (for sake of argument) that a fetus has a right to life
        --The case of the violinist: does he have a right to use your kidneys?
        --The case of the people seeds
        --What is it to have a right to life?  The right not to be killed unjustly.
        --Principle:  No one has a right to the use of your body unless you give them that right.
                --Under what circumstances has a woman given the fetus a right to use her body?