A Critique of John T. Noonan's an Almost Absolute Value in History
A Critique of An Almost Absolute Value in History “An Almost Absolute Value in History,” by John Noonan, argues against the morality of abortion at any time during a pregnancy. According to Noonan (2012) humanity begins at the moment of conception. Therefore, the unborn child has the inherent right to live, and abortion at any stage of gestation would be the equivalent of murder (p. 472). He makes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The only exception he makes is when continuing a pregnancy puts the mother’s life at risk. His arguments are strong against abortion at a later stage of pregnancy, but they are not as strong in arguing that abortion is immoral as soon as fertilization of an ovum occurs. In order to convince us of the immorality of abortion, John Noonan (2012) addresses the question of when a fetus becomes “human” (p. 469). He argues against several popular ideas. One popular position is that a fetus becomes human when it becomes viable (could survive outside of the mother’s womb). Noonan (2012) argues that this position makes the distinction that until viability, the fetus is completely dependent upon its mother. He argues that even when a child is born, and for several years of its life, it is completely dependent upon another to feed and care for it. In his opinion, if no longer being dependent is the criterion for humanity, then children don’t become “human” until they are able to care for themselves (p. 469-470). The main issue with Noonan’s argument is that he interchanges the terms “viable” and “dependent”. Although an infant is dependent upon another person for survival, it no longer needs to be physically connected to that person. It can be dependent on someone other than its mother. He also argues that the time of viability varies among races, and that length and weight are better indicators of development and a fetus’s ability to survive outside the womb (Noonan, 2012, p. 470). Here again his
References: Borenstein, Seth. (2012, June 24). What was he thinking? Study turns to ape intellect. Phys.org. Retrieved from phys.org/news/2012-06-line-blurs-animal-monkeys-math.html Daily Mail Reporter. (2011, May 12). Mystery of fading childhood memories solved: Why you are unable to recall your earliest childhood experiences. Mail Online. Retrieved from www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386194/Very-young-children-DO-memories--just-forget-older.html Noonan, J.T. Jr. (2012). An almost absolute value in history. In R. Munson (Ed.), Intervention and reflection: Basic issues in bioethics (9th ed.) (pp. 469-472). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Gengage Learning.