1. Abortion

2. Outline 1. Intro (pro-life, pro-choice)
2. Divisive debate (academically as well as socially)
3. Facts about Abortion
4. Stages of Fetal Development
5. Arguments for and against

3. Intro
Abortion - deliberate termination of a pregnancy by surgical or medical (drugs) means
Issue 1: Is abortion (in first trimester) morally justified under normal circumstances?
Issue 2: A related question is under what circumstances, if any, is third-trimester abortion permitted?
Issue 3: what role does the father have? Does he have rights in cases of abortion?
Circumstances: Rape? Danger to mothers life? Mother is mentally impaired? Addicted to drugs? The fetus is seriously deformed (unlikely to have normal capacities)?

4. Divisive Debate http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx
Beware of the labels “Pro-life” and “Pro-choice.”
They imply that the other side is against “life” or against “choice.”
They ignore the nuances in a person’s position.

6. Facts
The risk of death associated with abortion is about 0.6 per 100, 000 abortions; the risk of death for pregnancies carried to term is 7.1 per 100,000.
2% of women ages had an abortion (2002)
49% of pregnancies were unintended (2006) – 3.1 million per year
42% of all unintended pregnancies end in abortions.
Unintended pregnancies increased among poor women, decreased among financially well-off women.

7. Reasons given for abortions
5/25/2019
Reasons given for abortions
Concern for/responsibility to other individual 74%
Cannot afford a baby now %
A baby would interfere with school/employment/ability to care for dependents %
Would be a single parent/ having relationship problems %
Has completed childbearing %
Source: Finer et al., 2005 (2004 data)

8. Two separate issues:
Is abortion morally wrong?
Should abortion be illegal?
The moral question is prior to the legal question i.e. abortion is illegal because it is not moral
Our attention will be devoted to the moral question – but, here is what the law says in the United States

9. Roe vs. Wade Some forms of Abortion are legal in the US.
The prevention of all forms of abortions was ruled unconstitutional (1973)
Abortion is a fundamental right
Prohibiting an abortion is contrary to right of privacy
Prohibiting an abortion is beyond the powers of a state
However, the state can act and prohibit an abortion after a certain period
The interests that the state could cite to justify criminalizing abortion are:
an interest in discouraging women from engaging in "illicit sexual conduct", which interest would be undermined by making abortion widely available;
an interest in reducing access to a risky medical procedure
an interest in protecting prenatal life.

10. Stages of Development
Conception – joining of human sperm with ovum (egg) into a single cell
Process of fertilization
The single cell is called a zygote
Fetus - 11th week onwards
Quickening – the stage in fetal development when the mother can feel the fetus moving (16-20 weeks)
Viability – the stage where the fetus can survive independently of its mother

12. 30 hours

13. Fetal brain begins to form on day 23 Brain waves produced by 6 weeks
Fetal heart begins to form 18 days after conception
Measurable heart beat days after conception
Fetal brain begins to form on day 23
Brain waves produced by 6 weeks

14. 8 weeks

15. 8 weeks

16. 14 weeks

17. 18 weeks

18. 5 months

19. The moral status of the fetus
Is the fetus a person? At what stage in its development does it becomes a person? Conception? 1st trimester? Birth?
The rights of the pregnant woman
Does the pregnant woman have the right to decide if she is going to carry the baby to term or not?
The rights of fathers?
To what extent do the father’s preferences count in making this decision?
Mother actually give birth, fathers don’t.
Society usually places primary responsibility on the mother.
Fathers don’t even always know they are fathers; mothers always do.

20. Argumnets for The unborn is an innocent person from conception
It is wrong to kill an innocent person
Abortion is the killing of an innocent person
Therefore, abortion is wrong
Why conception?
When a sperm only has a chance of far les than 1 in 200 million of developing into a human or a being with human genes
If a fetus is destroyed, it has a very high probability of developing to into a human

21. Argument against
1. The unborn is not a person until birth (and thus does not have a right to life)
2. It is wrong to kill an innocent person
3. Abortion before birth would not b e the killing of an innocent person
4. If abortion before birth is not the killing of an innocent person, it is permissible.
5. Therefore, abortion before birth is permissible