Exam 3 - PHIL 1160

Thomson abortion argument

Right to life does not include right to use another person’s body; abortion permissible when there is a threat to the mother’s life or in cases of rape

Boonin abortion argument

Adopts Thomsonian approach with more liberal stance; includes cases of contraceptive failure or if mother doesn’t want to be pregnant

Hendricks abortion argument

Takes Thomsonian framework to reach conservative conclusion; there are cases where newborns have right to mothers bodies, so unborn may have the right

Compare and contrast Hendricks and Boonin

Boonin reaches liberal conclusion, Hendricks reaches conservative conclusion

Warren abortion argument

Complimentary of Thomsonian approach, but thinks it is unsatisfactory; doesn’t view abortion as a tragedy → morally neutral act, don’t met criteria for personhood = no right to life

Marquis abortion argument

Deprives fetus of “future of great value”, same as killing an adult human; harm comes from loss of a future

Moller abortion argument

Humans are biased in their reasoning to reach preferred conclusions; abortion is morally risky, and we should avoid moral risks = we should avoid abortion.

Typical flaws in abortion arguments

“pro-life” and “pro-choice mask nuance, ad hominem attacks, fallacies of equivocation, unpersuasive religious arguments

McFall v. Shimp

Cannot be forced to undergo medical treatment to uphold another pesron’s life; case utilized by Boonin

Hendricks, The Cabin example, Angel Poole

Angel Poole was criminally charged after starving her child → infant had right to use her body

Baby in a cabin would have right to use mothers body, so would a fetus

All take issue with Thomsonian approach

Warren and Thomson abortion argument

Ultimately rejects Thomson argument, Thomson doesn’t justify abortion in enough cases, morally neutral act

Warren standards to have a right to life

1) consciousness (and the capacity to feel pain), 2) reasoning, 3) self-motivated activity, 4) the capacity to communicate, and 5) self-awareness

Human genetic sense and moral sense of human

Fallacy of equivocation that Warren bases her argument off of, unborn are human in genetic sense, but not in moral personhood sense

Warren and infanticide

Against infanticide, despite her argument technically supporting it, does damage control with paper later (most philosophers have to bite the bullet of infanticide in abortion arguments)

Warren 3 Reasons against Infanticide

1) Neonates are very close to being persons (similar to chimps)

2) killing them deprives adoptive parents of "great pleasure"

3) society is generally willing to pay taxes to support unadoptable infants rather than kill them