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When a fetus gains moral status, or when the fetus becomes a person, is an unclear point that…
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Mary Anne Warren in the chapter “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion and Postscript on Infanticide” discusses her views on pro-abortion. Warren explains how a fetus has not reached enough development to be considered a person. In order for a being to be considered a person they must have a list of five traits. The first is “consciousness”, specifically the facility to feel emotions externally and internally, such as pain. The second is “reasoning”, the capability to finding solutions to any difficult insistences, or situations. “Self-motivated activity” is the third trait, it consists of “activity which is relatively independent of either genetic or direct external control” (pp). The fourth trait is communication, “by whatever means, messages with an indefinite variety of types, that is, not just with an indefinite number of possible contents, but on indefinitely many possible topics” (pp). The final trait is “self-awareness and self-concepts” (pp). These five traits are what ultimately identifies humanity or personhood, and a fetus does not apply to these descriptions, therefor, a fetus is not considered a person – rather the mother of the fetus is, she has the right to decide whether to terminate the fetus or not. “A pregnant…
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The goal of Judith Jarvis Thomson in her defense of abortion is to sway the ideas of those who are against abortion by challenging the arguments they give for thinking so. She begins by stating a premise. “For the sake of the argument” a human embryo is a person. This premise is one of the arguments most opponents of abortion use, but as she points out, isn’t much of an argument at all. These people spend a lot of their time dwelling on the fact that the fetus is a person and hardly any time explaining how the fetus being a person has anything to with abortion being impermissible. In the same breath, she states that those who agree with abortion spend a lot of their time saying the fetus is in fact not a person. Either way, no argument is really formed. No reasons are given. For sake of challenging an actual argument, she is disregarding this issue. With this premise out of the way, she addresses the basic argument the pro-choice campaign believes. “Every person has a right to life. So the fetus has a right to life. No doubt the mother has a right to decide what shall happen in and to her body; everyone would grant that. But surely a person’s right to life is stronger and more stringent than the mother’s right to decide what happens in and to her body, and so outweighs it. So the fetus may not be killed; an abortion may not be performed.” The remainder of her paper is a series of analogies meant to challenge the basic argument mention above. When looking at the analogies separately, they are in no way related to the abortion topic, but the conclusions drawn from each can be applied. Because these examples aren’t directly related to the debate, our emotions won’t necessarily be involved and we can clearly think about what is the “right” thing to do for each specific scenario.…
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Paper #2: Jane English and the Analogy of the Hypnotized Attackers Mario P. Martinez November 6,1997 For our next paper I plan on discussing abortion as a social issue. I want to do this in the form of a critical paper This seems to be a very sticky subject and is one of the topics we had in our class that was very interesting to me with a lot of room for interpretation as to when it is or is not o.k. to abort the fetus if it should ever be done at all. The argument I plan to discuss is Jane English's analogy of the hypnotized attackers which was not one of our readings, but one I came across in some research I did for this upcoming paper.…
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There are three main different views of the abortion debate. Most of the debate is if the fetus is considered a human or not is the main argument. For the pro-life side of the abortion debate, they mainly say that it should be considered human. Of course the pro-choice feel just the opposite usually. I personally, consider myself to be Pro-Life because I don’t think that we have enough information on the fetus and I could never consider killing a human (or even a fetus). I feel that the parents should have taken responsibility and taken the appropriate actions such as choosing abstinence, or at least using contraceptives. Hopefully, you will agree after looking at the opposition and their views/arguments against my view.…
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These people firmly believe that an abortion is ending a life and is, therefore, murder and should be treated as such. These people are referred to be pro-life, and that means they oppose abortion. The other side, known as pro-choice are people who believe it should be the woman’s right to choose to either continue or to end the pregnancy and that there should not be laws banning abortion that interfere with the right of a woman to decide what is in her own best interest. Those in support of pro-choice may not believe that abortion is morally correct and might even view it as wrong but nonetheless, they believe it should be the woman’s…
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or them felt they were ending a life. They are wise enough to know how they…
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Pro-choice argues that choosing whether or not to have an abortion is the woman’s right and should not be limited by the government. They also argue that having access to legal and professional abortions is less risky, unlike having illegal abortions…
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Abortion is defined as the ending of pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo from the womb before it can survive on its own. It can also be defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy or the act of ending an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion itself is the most difficult and controversial moral issue to consider. The arguments that arise from this issue is life and death though the uncertainty of complication makes it difficult. The debate over abortion can be critical. Usually there are two voice of reason for this difficult topic: Pro-life and Pro-choice. Pro-life is a group that goes against abortion, they are all for life. They believe that human life begins at conception. Their basic concept and belief is that an unborn child deserves life. While Pro-Choice are for abortions. They believe a woman have the freedom to make her own choice. This group believes abortion is a personally protected choice. They advocates and continually argue for a woman’s right to choose, to have sovereignty over her own body.…
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There are two different viewpoints on abortion. Pro-choice and pro-life. Let’s start with the easy one. Pro-life means that a person is completely against abortion. The pro-life viewpoint is the belief that abortion is considered taking the life a human, which would mean that life begins at conception. People may have this viewpoint for religious values, or even their personal moral values, and believe that abortion for anyone is wrong. Pro-choice is a little bit harder to describe. It doesn’t mean pro-abortion, it literally concerns the word choice. People that are pro-choice believe that it is a person’s personal decision as to whether or not they get an abortion. Somebody may be completely against abortion personally, but may still be pro-choice because they believe that it is a person’s decision and that right should not be…
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Abortion is the termination of an unborn baby’s life, while in its mother’s womb. This could be done at different times of pregnancy, from the day after conception, to the day that the baby is expected. Whether they are the same or not is argued about by opposing stances on the subject. There are two opposite stances on abortion. These stances are pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-choice supporters think of abortion as neither good or bad, but as a choice. They believe that abortion is a useful tool to make life easier for mothers who do not want their children. The choice to have an abortion is usually based on egoism, which is doing what is best for one’s self. People who are pro-choice believe that an unborn baby is not really alive at all, and…
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P1: Whether or not the unborn has a right to life, it does not have a right to…
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In this document you will find my view on Abortion, and the policy I have proposed. You will also see the history and views of abortion.…
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child. “Those choosing legalization of abortion will argue that the developing fetus lacks a moral status…
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Pro-life is when individuals believe women should not have the right to abort a baby, pro-choice is the complete opposite. Pro-choice is the belief that a woman has the right to choose the best choice for her personal health, future, and moral sensibility. In my opinion abortion should be illegal. Life begins at conception, therefore I view the termination of a fetus as murder. Taking away one's life when they have no say is murder. How can you withdraw an innocent child's life? A failed abortion can result to a severely handicapped child. How can you attempt to damage a child for life causing your child to come out intellectually handicapped? How can you deliberately kill a miniscule baby because you decided to not use a form of birth control?…
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