Transcript abortion - Western Washington University

abortion
introduction
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The fetus is the unborn entity at any stage
of development.
An abortion is the intentional destruction of
a fetus.
Something is a human in the genetic
sense if and only it is a homo sapien.
Something is a human in the moral sense
if and only if it is the sort of thing that has
rights, like the right to life (i.e., iff it is a
person).
definitions
Those who defend women's rights to abortion often
refer to themselves as 'pro-choice' rather than as
'pro-abortion'. In this way they seek to bypass the
issue of the moral status of the foetus, and instead
make the right to abortion a question of individual
liberty. But it cannot simply be assumed that a
woman's right to have an abortion is a question of
individual liberty, for it must first be established that
the aborted foetus is not a being worthy of
protection. If the foetus is worthy of protection, then
laws against abortion do not create 'victimless crimes'
as laws against homosexual relations between
consenting adults do. So the question of the moral
status of the foetus cannot be avoided.
-Peter Singer
definitions
The fetus is a person.
2. If (1), the fetus has a right to life.
3. If the fetus has a right to life, abortion is
prima facie wrong.
4. [So] Abortion is prima facie wrong.
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the central argument
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To analyze a concept is to provide a list
of necessary and sufficient conditions for
that concept to apply.
Something is a
if and only if
.
Something is a square iff
.
Something is God iff
.
Something is a person iff
.
definitions
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The Species Criterion: Something is a
person iff it is a homo sapien.
the species criterion