Abortion Lecture

Question 1

human being

Answer 1

living being with human DNA (pro-life)

Question 2

person

Answer 2

beings that are entitled to roughly the moral consideration that an ordinary innocent adult human being is entitled to (pro-choice)

Question 3

how does Thompson feel about the person status of the fetus?

Answer 3

even if the fetus is a person, abortion is still permissible

Question 4

thompson’s idea of the standard argument for pro-life

Answer 4

• every person has a R2L
• fetus is a person
• therefore fetus has R2L
• but mother has right to control own body
• but R2L is more stringent than right to control body
• so fetus may not be killed

Question 5

what is the extreme view?

Answer 5

even if mother’s life is at stake, abortion is impermissible

Question 6

reasons people might agree with the extreme view (according to Thompson)

Answer 6

• direct killing of an innocent person is impermissible
• direct killing is murder
• duty to not kill is more stringent than duty to not let die
• if the only options are killing or letting die, one must always prefer to let die

Question 7

self ownership

Answer 7

persons have the control rights over themselves and their bodies that in slave systems, masters are legally granted over slaves (but not of course have morally)

Question 8

trusteeship

Answer 8

our bodies are not our own, they’re on loan to us

Question 9

what is Brody’s main idea?

Answer 9

that it is impermissible to ever kill an innocent human being

Question 10

doctrine of double effect

Answer 10

a killing is intentional when the killing is either the goal of the action or a means to the goal of the action. It is not intentional when it is merely a side effect of the action

Question 11

what is marquis’s main idea?

Answer 11

• killing is wrong because it deprives the fetus of “a valuable future like ours”
• the inflation of these wrongs is ultimately what makes killing wrong

Question 12

marquis’s intuitions

Answer 12

• killing is one of the worst possible crimes
• premature death is bad b/c it denies them the future they would have experienced - helps explain why its tragic
• allows that killing nonhuman aliens is wrong if they have valuable futures like ours

Question 13

marquis’s definition of abortion

Answer 13

any killing that deprives a being of a valuable future like ours is seriously immoral

Question 14

objections to marquis

Answer 14

who determines what a valuable future like ours is? what is a valuable future like ours?

Question 15

professor brighouse’s objections to marquis

Answer 15

• his reasoning makes killing in war and in self defense wrong
• doesn’t say anything about the intention of the agent (no distinction btw murder and manslaughter)
• suggests wrong headed gradations of wrongness - the older someone is the less wrong it is to kill them

Question 16

schouten’s thoughts

Answer 16

• if fetuses are morally considerable if their interests have any moral weight
• care-giving obligations can compel even if not voluntarily undertaken
• claim to care is not dependent upon fortune in social connections

Question 17

schouten’s main thesis

Answer 17

• body rights
• moral claim to aid from society as a whole
• collective obligation
• falls on woman because she is uniquely positioned to discharge this obligation
• fetus has moral status
• if you have moral status you have a claim to aid if you’re vulnerable