On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion
Be sure to refer to specific passages from the relevant texts to defend your attributions of arguments and views to the philosophers you discuss, and to cite your sources using a consistent citation
format.
A. present and explain the main line of argument pursued by Mary Anne Warren in “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion.” Your paper should identify and explain Warren’s main thesis and explain its significance
In the article titled “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion,” Mary Anne Warren argues that abortion is morally permissible at any point of a woman’s pregnancy. Perhaps the strongest argument that Warren gives for this claim.
Warren defends an extremely permissive view on abortion, according to which abortion is morally permissible at any stage of the pregnancy and under any circumstances.
b) present and explain what you take to be the strongest objection to this argument presented by Lee & George in “The Wrong of Abortion.”
I think the strongest objection to this argument is that the embryo is a complete or whole organism, though immature.
And (c) evaluate Warren’s argument. Does Warren respond to this objection? If so, how?
Warren argues against the claim that fetuses are persons by suggesting that personhood is not something that is automatically a part of being a member of the human species, but has to do with the possession of certain characteristics, all of which, she argues, fetuses lack
Is Lee & George’s objection ultimately effective? Lee and George’s objection ultimately is not effective. Why or why not?
I think Lee and George’s objection is not effective.
This is an assignment I did on the Warren’s stance on abortion
A. What is the topic or subject of this reading assignment? What is the author writing about?
The author is discussing their stance on abortion
B. What is the author’s thesis statement? What is the main claim or point the author is trying to make or defend?
Her main thesis is that a woman should be allowed to have an abortion at any point during her pregnancy and for any reason.
C. What is the author’s argument for this claim? If the author makes more than one main argument, summarize each one. In each case, be brief, but detailed.
I suggest that the traits which are most central to the concept of personhood, or humanity’ in the moral sense, are, very roughly; the following:
1. consciousness (of objects and events external
and/or internal to the being), and in particular the
capacity to feel pain;
2. reasoning (the developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems);
3. self-motivated activity (activity which is relatively independent of either genetic or direct external control);
4. the capacity to communicate, by whatever means, messages of an indefinite variety of types, that is, not just with an indefinite number of possible contents, but on indefinitely many possible topics;
5. the presence of self-concepts, and self-awareness, either individual or racial, or both
Fetuses are not persons because they do not satisfy this criteria
D. Does the author consider any objections or counterarguments to their claim or arguments? What are they? Does the author cite a source for the objections or counterarguments they consider? If so, what are they? Provide a brief but detailed summary of each counterargument or objection the author considers.
Yes, warren considers counter arguments
The counterargument is that fetuses are persons
E. Does the author respond to these objections/counterarguments? If so, how. Provide a brief but detailed summary of each response.
Warren counters the claim that fetuses are persons by claiming that personhood is not inherent in being a member of the human species, but rather requires the possession of certain characteristics, all of which, she claims, fetuses lack.
F. In your view, does the author successfully argue for their thesis? Explain why or why not.
Yes, the author convincingly defends their thesis. This is because even if a potential person has a right to life, that right cannot possibly outweigh a woman’s right to obtain an abortion, because the rights of any actual person invariably outweigh those of any potential person.
This is an assignment I did on Lee and George
A. What is the topic or subject of this reading assignment? What is the author writing about?
The author is writing about their stance on abortion. They think that abortion is wrong.
B. What is the author’s thesis statement? What is the main claim or point the author is trying to make or defend?
The thesis: An intended death of a fetus is morally wrong.
C. What is the author’s argument for this claim? If the author makes more than one main argument, summarize each one. In each case, be brief, but detailed.
Lee and George argue that intentional abortion is unjust and therefore immoral. They say “the burden of carrying the baby, for all its distinctness, is significantly less than the harm the baby would suffer by being killed; the mother and father have a special responsibility to the child; it follows that intentional abortion (even in the few cases where the baby’s death is an unintended but foreseen side effect) is unjust and
therefore objectively immoral.”
D. Does the author consider any objections or counterarguments to their claim or arguments? What are they? Does the author cite a source for the objections or counter arguments they consider? If so, what are they? Provide a brief but detailed summary of each counterargument or objection the author considers.
Yes, they do consider counterarguments to their claim. For instance, they discuss certain defenders of abortion have argued that in order to be a person, an entity must be self-aware (Singer, 1993; Tooley, 1983; Warren, 1984).
Another counter argument is that the being who is you or I came to be at conception, but
contends that you and I became valuable and bearers of rights only much later, when,
for example, we developed the proximate, or·immediately exercisable, capacity for
self-consciousness.
Another counter arguments they consider is that, abortion is not a case of intentionally killing the child, but a choice not to provide the
child with assistance, that is, a choice to expel (or “evict”) the child from the womb, despite the likelihood or certainty that expulsion (or “eviction”) will result in his or her death (Little, 1999; McDonagh, 1996; Thomson, 1971).
E. Does the author respond to these objections/counterarguments? If so, how. Provide a brief but detailed summary of each response.
Their response to the first counter argument
are that the embryo is human: it has the genetic
makeup characteristic of human beings. Third, and most importantly, the embryo is complete or whole organism, though immature.
Their response to the second counter argument was “we are living bodily entities. We can see this by examining the kinds of action that
we perform. If a living thing performs bodily actions, then it is a physical organism.”
Their response to the third counter argument was “we human beings have the special kind of value that makes us subjects of rights in virtue of what we are, not in virtue of some attribute that we acquire some time after we have come to be.”
F. In your view, does the author successfully argue for their thesis? Explain why or why not.
No, the author’s thesis is not successfully argued. I say this because I disagree that carrying the baby to full term would cause less harm than killing the baby. I believe that a woman should be able to decide whether she is emotionally, physically, or financially stable enough to carry out a full-term pregnancy
