Rosalind Hursthouse Abortion Case Study

Abortion has been around for centuries. Before the practice of abortions there were no doctors , medicines or hospitals available. So it was very risky. Many women use to stick themselves with needles , stick hangers inside themselves or drink harmful chemicals or powder (OBOS,2016). Because of these techniques many women were dying or having injuries after or during the abortion process. Before the 1800’s many women were getting abortions without much persecution. Before the 1800’s when abortion became illegal , many women were getting abortions around the world. Abortion became illegal to women in the 1800 's . After abortion was illegal women found it very hard to get legal abortions by a doctor so they traveled paying a high cost

Thomson’s Response to This Objection- I think that Thomson’s response to my objection would be that while we are able to see that the pregnancy/violinist analogy does lack a realistic relevance because the situations that are set up are very different. The reader no matter their belief on the pregnancy/violinist case, or whether they agree with the Thomson case or not, provides no real insight on the rape case. I also think that Thomson would point out that her point in providing this analogy in particular was to stress the inference from said person’s right to life to that said person’s right to the use of another’s body. Also, while Thomson’s analogy does not truly work, the pro-life position is still not clear, because she is actually correct

In the unit, Mary Anne Warren and Don Marquis present two different opinions about abortion. Mary Anne Warren believes that abortion should be morally permissible. Although she agrees that it is immoral to kill a person, she thinks that fetus is not a person because it does not meet the six traits of personhood (LaFollette, 2014). On the other hand, Don Marquis is against abortion because he thinks that killing a fetus deprives it of “a future like ours” (LaFollette, 2014). For my part, I think Don Marquis makes a stronger case for his opinion. A fetus is also a life. All lives are equal and a fetus also has the right to live. It is inhumane to deprive a life’s basic rights. It is even immoral to kill animals that have human characteristics,

Perhaps the most popular argument made against abortion is that the fetus is a person. Based on this assertion, the fetus has a moral right to life. The problem that Thomson identifies is that most of the anti-abortionist and pro-life supporters rely solely on this aspect for their argument and do not rationalize any other matter. For the sake of the discussion, Thomson accepts that the fetus is a human being. However, this logic does not forbid all abortions. To illustrate her view better, she describes an interesting example involving a famous violinist. The violinist has a fatal kidney

Even today, there are many moral and philosophical issues that divide the United States because they create very polarized opinions and beliefs. One such philosophical issue is the moral permissibility of infanticide. Mary Anne Warren, a philosopher, presents her liberal yet controversial views on the issue of infanticide in the postscript of her article, On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion. However, the anti-infanticide arguments pose problems for Warren’s position because they justify the immorality of infanticide through the physical similarity in resemblance of neonates to human beings. These arguments also claim that the destruction of a viable infant is needless because even if the infant’s biological parents reject the infant, there are many other parents who are willing to adopt and nurture that infant.

Judith Jarvis Thomson and Don Marquis both have extremely strong views on whether or not abortion is permissible. Judith Jarvis Thomson’s pro-choice standpoint defends a woman 's right to do what they want with their body. Don Marquis’s pro-life standpoint defends that a fetus is a person from the time of conception and it has a right to a future. Different situations come into play when it comes to abortion from rape to the mother 's life at risk that affect choices. A woman 's right to choose what to do with her body should absolutely never be taken away. Which is why I believe abortion should be permissible in all

Judith Thomson’s A Defense of Abortion is an article defending abortion on the grounds of rights, duties, and justice. Thomson uses various thought experiments to represent different circumstances surrounding a pregnancy and the permissibility of abortion in these circumstances. One such thought experiment that she uses in her argument is the burglar example. If you open a window and a burglar climbs into your house, anti-abortionists would argue that the burglar has a right to stay in your house and you have a duty to shelter him because you are partially responsible for his presence there. Even if you install bars specifically to keep out burglars and the burglar still manages to break in then you are still partially responsible and he still

Patrick Lee and Robert George assert that abortion is objectively immoral. One of Lee and George’s main reason for coming to this conclusion is that human embryos are living human beings. This essentially validates that abortion is indeed the process of killing a human. Another main point said by the two is a rebuttal to a common argument used in favor of abortion, which states that a potential mother has full parental responsibilities only if she has voluntarily assumed them. The rebuttal to this was that the potential mother does indeed have special responsibilities to raise the child. Similarly to the responsibilities those have with their siblings, although those responsibilities were not chosen, they are definitely there. Another main

Rosalind Hursthouse in her paper Virtue Theory and Abortion, handles with the moral standpoint of abortion from a virtue ethics perspective. Her research is directed towards investigating whether or not an abortion is something a virtuous person would do. Hursthouse examines the morally relevant considerations and in so doing, she rejects the standard questions used to determine the morality of an abortion such as the status of the fetus, and the rights of a women. The morally relevant considerations she sees fit to assess the moral legitimacy of an abortion are concerns with family relationship, personal circumstance, and basic biological facts. Through her considerations, Hurthouses account of virtue ethics gives us adequate moral advice in regards to the question of abortion.

Pregnancy, giving birth, and abortion are three interrelated topics. They offer moral dilemmas that aren’t easily solved or tackled. In this paper, I will discuss abortion and I will approach it from the point of view of a consequentialist, a deontological ethicist, and a virtue ethicist. I will start by defining abortion, provide some information about the reasons why women opt to abort a fetus, then give a specific example of a moral dilemma that a woman is facing, and explore the dilemma from the different points of view.

Jost, Kenneth, and Kathy Koch. "Abortion Showdowns." CQ Researcher 22 Sept. 2006: 769-92. Web. 27 July 2015

This website is sponsored by Google and is used to argue both sides of many controversial issues. It is meant for readers that are for and against abortion or those that have not decided what side to choose. This website provides the pros and cons of abortion, background information, and videos related to the topic. They include that the Supreme Court believes abortion should be a fundamental right to women, however, abortion is also seen as the murder of an innocent, vulnerable, human being yet to be born. Pro-abortionists believe women rights outweigh fetus rights and anti-abortionists believe it causes embryos pain and is unfair to people that

Dorothy E. McBride (2008) explains that in the eighteenth century, when the Constitution was outlined and established, there was a common conviction that it was probable for the developing embryo to have a soul as early as during the second trimester of the pregnancy. This trimester, also called quickening, was thought of as a time where something significant changed in the pregnancy. The fetus was now viewed upon as independent life and was no longer simply a clump of cells; it was a baby. As a result it soon became justifiable to punish whoever aborted a quick fetus, as it was the equivalent of killing a baby. Prevailing U.S. law is, in this context, considerably comparable to the abortion law that was created more than 300 years ago — both

The article from our text on “A Defense of Abortion” written by Judith Jarvis Thomason states the right to have an abortion should be the pregnant woman’s decision. Everyone should have the right to do whatever they want with their body. She goes on to mention that the fetus is a “person from the time of conception” (p241). This is what those who seek abortions use as their rational. Judith comes back and contradicts the statement I just presented by stating that she does not believe the “fetus is a person at the time on conception”. So, if the fetus is not a person at the time of conception, this suggests that “everyone has the right to life” (p242). One of the arguments she present is that abortions should be allowed in some cases, such as rape, incest, and when the mother’s life is in danger. When some people think of the word abortion, they think it is about killing an innocent life that did not ask to be created. Killing is often referred to as murder, and that is wrong. Judith appears to be pro-choice when it comes to the decision regarding abortions. Pro-choice

Abortion is a general term used to define the removal of a foetus from the uterus. According to Guidelines on Termination of Pregnancy in Malaysia (2012), termination of pregnancy refers to therapeutic abortion performed usually to preserve the mother’s life. There is on-going debate over legal, moral, religious and ethical issues of abortion. In resolving such issue, psychologist must be aware of the heavy legal, ethical and religious obligations associated with termination of pregnancy beyond clinical judgement. The best practice in making decisions in this type of issues involves finding a balance between risks and benefits (Guidelines on Termination of Pregnancy, 2012). For example, finds out whether continuing or terminating a pregnancy cause greater physical or psychological harms and risks to the mother. On the other hand, Bonevski & Adams (2001) further added that abortion may expose the mother to grief and regret. As such, it is important to gain mother’s consent before making the decision.