Part II Pro-Life Christians Establish a Foundation for the Debate

“When pro-life advocates claim that elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being, they are not saying they dislike abortion. They are saying it’s objectively wrong, regardless of how one feels about it.”

Claims About Ice Cream Versus Claims About Truth

• Two Kinds of Truth– Objective Truth – These are things that correspond

to reality and are true whether I think they are or not. Example: The Astros went to the World Series in 2005.

• Subjective Truth– Personal in nature and depends on preferences.

Example: Chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla.

“Don’ t like abortion, don’t have one.”

• This is the pro-choice way of changing the argument from objective truth to subjective truth. They say your stance on abortion is just a preference.

• Pro life advocates don’t oppose abortion because it is distasteful, they oppose it because it violates rational moral principles.

Example

• “Don’t like slavery, don’t own one.”• “Don’t like spousal abuse, don’t abuse your

spouse.”

Dictatorship of Relativism

• Ethical Relativism – The belief that right and wrong are up to us to decide.

Two Kinds of Relativism

• Cultural Relativism– Because cultures disagree on important moral

issues, objective moral truths either do not exist or if they do exist we cannot know them.

• Individual Relativism– Right and wrong begin with each human being.

Answers to Relativism

• Cultures do not differ as much as we may think.

• If cultures do differ, it does not follow that nobody is correct– Slavery,– Female Infanticide– Equal rights for women

Answers to Relativism Continued..

• If morals are relative to culture or the individual there is no ethical difference between Mother Theresa and Hitler.

• Relativism in any form cannot tell me I “ought” to do anything including being tolerant of another culture.

• Relativism is judgmental. If it’s wrong to judge, why do you judge pro-lifers?

Do Morals Count as True Knowledge?

• Moral Realism – The belief that morals exist even if I don’t recognize or acknowledge them.

• Moral Non-Realism – Morals are merely subjective opinions.

Ask the Why Question

• Next time you hear, “I personally oppose abortion, but think it should remain legal,” ask Why do you personally oppose abortion?

• If elective abortion does not take the life of a defenseless human being without justification, why oppose it at all?

Read Page 99 – The Satirical Example by Robert George

The Ground Rules Part 2: Is Moral Neutrality Possible

“Moral neutrality is impossible. Both sides of the abortion controversy bring prior metaphysical commitments to the debate. Why, then, is it okay for liberals to legislate their metaphysical views on the status of the unborn but not okay for pro-lifers to legislate theirs?”

Metaphysics

• The Nature of Reality• What’s ultimately real?• Is that reality one or many, material or

immaterial?• Do living things have specific natures that

define the kinds of things they are?• What makes humans valuable?

Both Sides Use Metaphysics

• Pro Abortion – Humans have value not because of the kind of thing they are but because of an acquired property that comes to be later in the life of the human organism. The embryo does not appear to be a human with rights so it can be destroyed.

• Pro Life – Humans are intrinsically valuable in virtue of the kind of thing they are. They differ with respect to talents, accomplishment and degrees of development, but they are equal.

• Pro life advocates provide a rational defense for their position. – Science d

• Pro choice argument is grounded in metaphysics as well.

• Both arguments are supported by religious arguments• Claiming an embryo is a human with rights is no more

religious than saying it is not.• State neutrality is impossible.

3 Positions About Humans That Can be Defended

• Human beings are in no morally relevant way different from other creatures and have no special dignity.– Stepping on an ant no different than killing your

grandmother.

• Some, but not all, human beings have dignity; those who have it possess it by virtue of some quality or set of qualities that they happen to possess that some other humans don’t possess.– You will have to accept arguments for infanticide

eventually if you hold this position.

• Human beings have inherent and equal dignity.– If you hold this the question is, “What makes a

human?” – This question has already been answered by

Science and it is that at the moment of conception the embryo is a human being.

Foundations: Does God Matter?

“Even if the pro-life view cannot be fully explained without explicit reference to Christian faith, it does not follow that the pro-life view is inherently irrational. Christian theists make rational arguments for their position, and it’s wrong for materialists to simply presume the truth of their positions.”