Chapter 11: Abortion Chapter 11: Abortion

Key terms – Prolife, prochoice, proabortion, and antichoice

Stages of Fetal Development

Methods of Abortion

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Abortion and the Lawo 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?

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

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

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

Chapter 11: continuedChapter 11: continuedReading: 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

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◦The four theses

◦The box of chocolates

◦Clarifying the meaning of a “right” ◦Minimally Decent Samaritanism

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Reading: Why Abortion is Immoral ◦The basic assumption in the abortion

debate ◦The typical anti-abortion strategy ◦The typical pro-choice strategy ◦The standoff

Chapter 11: continuedChapter 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