Mary Anne Warren Abortion Is Morally Permissible
Mary Anne Warren argues the position that abortion is morally permissible because the fetus is not a person therefore has no rights therefore not immoral to be killed. I shall argue that Warren’s position is invalid since her argument “appears to justify not only abortion, but infanticide as well.”
From the time that Warren’s article “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” was published she has gotten critiques that her argument “appears to justify not only abortion, but infanticide as well.”. Warren argues that if her argument is valid than infanticide is not a form of murder since you are not killing a person. Although, Warren states that there are other good reasons as to why infanticide would be unjust. An infant is not more of a person
than a fetus. According to Warren the fetus is not a person therefore it has no rights and not considered immoral to be killed. In the argument given by Warren she centers her argument on the personhood of a fetus.
“...it is only people who have a full-fledged right to life, and who can be murdered, and if the criteria of personhood are as I have described them, then it its obviously follows that killing a newborn infant isn’t murder.”
In this time period, even country, it is never justified to deliberately kill infants. Even if killing a newborn infant is not murder it would not be permissible for two reason given by Warren. An infant is not a person but “potential for becoming a person” as mentioned earlier in her article. If a fetus is not a person but potential for becoming a person then an infant is potential for becoming a better person since it is not yet.
From the time that Warren’s article “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” was published she has gotten critiques that her argument “appears to justify not only abortion, but infanticide as well.”. Warren argues that if her argument is valid than infanticide is not a form of murder since you are not killing a person. Although, Warren states that there are other good reasons as to why infanticide would be unjust. An infant is not more of a person
than a fetus. According to Warren the fetus is not a person therefore it has no rights and not considered immoral to be killed. In the argument given by Warren she centers her argument on the personhood of a fetus.
“...it is only people who have a full-fledged right to life, and who can be murdered, and if the criteria of personhood are as I have described them, then it its obviously follows that killing a newborn infant isn’t murder.”
In this time period, even country, it is never justified to deliberately kill infants. Even if killing a newborn infant is not murder it would not be permissible for two reason given by Warren. An infant is not a person but “potential for becoming a person” as mentioned earlier in her article. If a fetus is not a person but potential for becoming a person then an infant is potential for becoming a better person since it is not yet.