Understanding what the wrong-making feature of killing is helps to understand why those who are opposed to abortion may think certain (consensual) mercy-killings are morally acceptable.…
The first argument and the most basic question on any discussion of abortion is whether the fetus, or unborn child, is a human person or not. On the pro-life side, people argue that the fetus is "a human within a human". In the context of biology, a fetus is “alive” as it grows in the mother’s womb by time to time due to the cell division. On the pro-choice side people tend to argue that a child can only be consider…
The topic of abortion is a highly controversial issue in today's society, and various views are held concerning the morality of the procedure. Some people feel that abortion is simply cold-blooded murder, because it is their opinion that a 'foetus' is a human being from the moment of conception. However, others would argue that a foetus is merely insubstantial matter, dependant entirely on its mother's body for survival, with no real life of its own. It is for this reason that pro-abortionists support the woman's choice to undergo abortion. After all, why should something so small and insignificant, which is not yet human, be entitled to the same rights and privileges a real human has"…
Warrens view on pro-life is incorrect because although the fetuses aren’t capable of consciousness, reasoning, self-motivation, communication or self-awareness; the fetus is still a human. Although a fetus is not able to think for itself, that does not mean that it won’t have the five traits Warren was examining. By terminating a fetus, you are restraining a human from a life, where he or she will be able to reason, and prove consciousness, etc. It is unfair to say that a fetus is not a person, the unborn child has a genetic code, making him or she unique and the potential to be its own individual. There is potential for this fetus to mature and it is unfair to restrain it because it hasn’t reached its full level of…
Secondly, another ethical argument in favour of abortion is consciousness. Many people would agree that abortion is completely acceptable under most circumstances as long as the human has no signs of consciousness or presence of rationality. Examples of this are the ability to develop complex language and make tools. Similarly to viability, this point of consciousness is later on in the foetus’ development and growth, as even though all the DNA is there, the fact that there's no higher brain activity strongly suggests that there's no consciousness. Even the later presence of a heartbeat and of primitive streak do not imply consciousness or preciousness, as there is no higher brain activity or self-awareness. Therefore, this argument supports…
Mary Anne Warren argues the position that abortion is morally permissible because the fetus is not a person therefore has no rights therefore not immoral to be killed. I shall argue that Warren’s position is invalid since her argument “appears to justify not only abortion, but infanticide as well.”…
Ultimately, she argues that the fetus are not human beings therefore, we should not worry about if we should be able to kill them. She states that the fetus is genetically human, but she claims that research has shown that a fetus is not morally a human. Genetically human is known as a member of the homo sapiens species and being morally human can be summed up by saying one that gives us traits that make us have moral rights. She compiles a list of attributes that make a human morally human: consciousness, reason, self-motivated activity, communication, and self-awareness (not necessarily all of them). She concludes that because the fetus is not morally a human until around the third trimester, so the fetus is not a human until that point, which makes an abortion acceptable any time before the third trimester, or around twenty or so weeks. However, she doesn’t agree with allowing the individual to have an abortion done after reaching the state where the fetus is morally…
Paper #2: Jane English and the Analogy of the Hypnotized Attackers Mario P. Martinez November 6,1997 For our next paper I plan on discussing abortion as a social issue. I want to do this in the form of a critical paper This seems to be a very sticky subject and is one of the topics we had in our class that was very interesting to me with a lot of room for interpretation as to when it is or is not o.k. to abort the fetus if it should ever be done at all. The argument I plan to discuss is Jane English's analogy of the hypnotized attackers which was not one of our readings, but one I came across in some research I did for this upcoming paper.…
The extreme liberal view states that “the foetus is, in most if not all morally relevant respects, like a piece of tissue or a bit of the human body” (Hursthouse, 1987).…
The opposing argument is that a nine month old fetus is relatively similar to an infant, so if abortion of a nine month old is justified then infanticide is justified (Warren, 342). Therefore if infanticide is considered as a type of murder, then abortion should be considered similarly. But Warren responds that infanticide is in fact different from abortion. First, infanticide would deprive others of parenthood as infants are able to be given to adoption centers/agencies and orphanages. Secondly, unlike an infant, “the unborn fetus, contrary to the wishes of the pregnant woman, violates her rights to freedom, happiness, and self-determination” (Warren, 342). An infant poses no threats to the life of the woman as it no longer resides within her body using it to keep itself alive. Lastly, she concludes that infanticide can be justified under certain conditions and only those where the greater good overrides the death of the infant. An example of this can be seen with the Eskimos; they need more men to go out to salvage food. Therefore if there are more women than men then they have more mouths to feed than bodies to go hunting and infanticide of female infants is permitted otherwise they will die out. Another example would be if the infant is born with such a devastating birth defect, such as trisomy 28, and will otherwise live a painful life thus permitting…
For instance the difference between an unconscious patient and a comatose patient. It may be argued if fetuses have the ability to take an interest in their interests, but at best, they do have the future ability to take an interest in their interests. Marquis argues you cannot have a right to life unless it expressly desires its own continued existence; as fetuses do not value in such a way. He argues that just because a being does not currently value or desire something, it does not follow that that thing is not valuable to, or desirable for,…
The fetus’s potential of what it will be in the future (Lee 2015). Killing a fetus is killing an adult human being due to the potential of what it could be. According to this logic, killing an adult human being is wrong, therefore, it is wrong to kill a fetus. Killing an innocent person because their existence in the world would make the killer’s life miserable is homicide and can’t be justified (Lee 2015). A proposed way to look at it is, to kill our boss because he makes your life miserable and intolerable and you can’t find another job is not a justified reason to kill your boss(Lee 2015). In this example, your boss is the fetus and just because the fetus will make your life intolerable is not grounds for having an abortion (Lee 2015). To abort a fetus is the loss of that person’s future, specifically, all the value of that future. A fetus can be said to have a future and potential therefore, killing a fetus is wrong. It is just as bad as killing an adult human being which is illegal (Marquis 2014).…
There are several different perspectives on weather abortion is right or wrong. It often becomes a controversy. One way of arguing it is with Kerby Anderson's "A Biblical View of Abortion." Another is with Richard J. Hardy's "The Right to Choose." And lastly is Rachel's, an anonymous writer from msngroups.com, "Abortion the Murder of Innocence." Each of theses controversial articles are to objectively present different view or perspectives of abortion.…
Whether it's called a foetus or a baby, a form of life is destroyed which deepens the importance of the issue and its…
The question between whether abortion is morally right or wrong has been talked about for years and no common ground has been made. Judith Thomson, a believer in Pro-choice, argues that abortion is not wrong because the mother should have a choice of what happens to her body. In response to this, Donald Marquis who is against abortion believes every fetus is a human with a right to have a future like ours. Each Ethicist gives examples and theories as to why abortion is wrong or right. In this essay, I will attempt to show that abortion is okay in some cases, and Donald Marquis’s views and arguments are broad and incorrect.…