Chapter 9: Abortion Pope John Paul II, “The Unspeakable Crime of Abortion” – Main argument: 1. The human fetus from conception is “an innocent human being.” 2. Therefore, it “is to be respected as a person.” 3. Therefore, it has the same right to life (and in the same degree) as any other person Therefore, all abortions that kill the fetus are instances of murder.

Chapter 9: Abortion Pope John Paul II, “The Unspeakable Crime of Abortion” – Objection: We don't know for sure that the fetus from conception is a person Response 1: Yes, we do know for sure. Given what modern genetic science has shown, “How could a human individual not be a human person?” Response 2: And even if we don't know for sure, “the mere probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify an absolutely clear prohibition” of abortion.

Chapter 9: Abortion Judith Jarvis Thomson, “A Defense of Abortion” – Conclusion: Even if a fetus is a person from conception (and hence has a full right to life), a pregnant women still has a right to have an abortion. – How does this conclusion interact with the Pope's argument? – Note: Thomson is not saying it is always morally permissible to have an abortion.

Chapter 9: Abortion Judith Jarvis Thomson, “A Defense of Abortion” – The “unconscious violinist” case – Thomson distinguishes “having a right to life” and “having a right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life.” – The point of this distinction: (A) “a fetus has a right to life” does not entail (B) “a fetus has a right to use its mother's body for survival” – So one cannot argue directly from (A) to (B)

Chapter 9: Abortion Mary Anne Warren, “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” – The genetic-code argument (roughly): Abortion is wrong because the fetus is, biologically speaking, a human being. – Warren's response to the genetic-code argument: What matters is whether the fetus is a person, not whether it is biologically a human being.

Chapter 9: Abortion Mary Anne Warren, “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” – So what makes something a person? – Warren's five “basic criteria” for personhood: 1. Consciousness 2. Reasoning 3. Self-motivated activity 4. The capacity to communicate 5. The presence of self-concepts – Warren's main premise: The fetus lacks all five, so it is definitely not a person.

Chapter 9: Abortion Dan Marquis, “Why Abortion is Immoral” – To determine whether abortion is wrong, Marquis claims we must first determine what makes killing generally wrong. – His answer: When someone is wrongly killed, he or she is deprived of a valuable future. – “When I am killed, I am deprived...of what I now value [and] also what I would come to value...Therefore, when I die, I am deprived of all of the value of my future.”

Chapter 9: Abortion Dan Marquis, “Why Abortion is Immoral” – Conclusion: “Since the loss of the future to standard fetus...at least as great a loss as the loss of the future to a standard human being who is killed, abortion, like ordinary killing, could be justified only by the most compelling reasons.” – In other words, he concludes that abortion is “seriously presumptively wrong.” – Note: Marquis intentionally avoids the question of whether the fetus is a person.

Chapter 9: Abortion W. L. Sumner, “A Moderate View” – A problem with liberal and conservative views: “despite their differences, [they both] agree on two very important matters: the moral irrelevance of when and why an abortion is performed.” – Irrelevance of when: “Neither view is able to support the common conviction that late abortions are more serious than early ones.” – Irrelevance of why: “Neither view is able to support the common conviction that some grounds justify abortion more readily than others.”

Chapter 9: Abortion W. L. Sumner, “A Moderate View” – Sentience: the capacity to experience pleasure and pain – Sentience criterion: a being has moral standing only if it is sentient – Application: “The threshold of moral standing is the stage during which the capacity to experience pleasure and pain is first [acquired]” (some point during the second trimester) – So: first-trimester abortions = generally permissible, third-trimester abortions = generally wrong, second trimester = ?

Chapter 9: Abortion Rosalind Hursthouse, “Virtue Theory and Abortion” – The skeleton of a virtue ethical theory “An action is right if it is what a virtuous agent would do in the circumstances.” “A virtuous agent is one who...has and exercises the virtues.” “A virtue is a character trait a human being needs to flourish or live well.” So right action is defined in terms of virtuous agents, who are defined in terms of virtue, that is defined in terms of flourishing.

Chapter 9: Abortion Rosalind Hursthouse, “Virtue Theory and Abortion” – Note how this avoids any trivial circularity (e.g., defining right action in terms of virtue and virtue in terms of right action). – When applied to abortion, rights become irrelevant, because one can exercise one's rights virtuously or viciously. – A virtuous person will appreciate the value of love, motherhood, family life, etc. – Abortion will be permissible when it expresses virtues like modesty and impermissible when it expresses vices like selfishness.