Transcript Chapter 11: Abortion

Chapter 11: Abortion
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Key terms – Prolife, prochoice,
proabortion, and antichoice
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Stages of Fetal Development
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Methods of Abortion
Chapter 11: continued
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Abortion and the Law
o Is abortion immoral or illegal?
◦ Roe v. Wade and the trimester approach
◦ Planned Parenthood v. Casey and the undue
burden approach
◦ 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld the
ban on partial birth abortion
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Abortion: Is it a Moral Question?
Chapter 11: continued
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Arguments that Do Not Depend on the
Moral Status of the Fetus
◦ Utilitarian reasoning
◦ Some rights arguments
Chapter 11: continued
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Arguments that Do Depend on the
Moral Status of the Fetus
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Method I: Fetal Development
Conception or fertilization
Detectable brain waves
Quickening
Viability
Chapter 11: continued
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Method II: Moral Status and the Right
to Life
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Being Human
Being Like Human Beings
Potentiality
Actuality
Evolving Value
Chapter 11: continued
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Reading: A Defense of Abortion
◦ Begin by assuming that the fetus is a
person form the moment of conception
- The violinist example
◦ The extreme position: abortion is never
permissible
◦ Abortion and a limited right to self-defense
Chapter 11: continued
◦ The four theses
◦ The box of chocolates
◦ Clarifying the meaning of a “right”
◦ Minimally Decent Samaritanism
Chapter 11: continued
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Reading: Why Abortion is Immoral
◦ The basic assumption in the abortion
debate
◦ The typical anti-abortion strategy
◦ The typical pro-choice strategy
◦ The standoff
Chapter 11: continued
◦ Why is it wrong to kill an adult human
being?
◦ The wrongness of killing and the loss of a
future
◦ Support for the “loss of a future” argument
◦ The prima facie wrongness of abortion
◦ The permissibility of contraception