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Single Idea 22446
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 3. Abortion
]
Full Idea
In the problem of abortion there is a genuine choice as to whether or not to count as a human being, with the rights of a human being, what would become a human being but is not yet capable of independent life.
Gist of Idea
In the case of something lacking independence, calling it a human being is a matter of choice
Source
Philippa Foot (Morality and Art [1972], p.7)
Book Ref
Foot,Philippa: 'Moral Dilemmas' [OUP 2002], p.7
A Reaction
There must be some basis for the choice. We can't call a dead person a human being. Choosing to call a tiny zygote a human being seems very implausible. Pre-viability strikes me as implausible.
Related Idea
Idea 22445
Morality shows murder is wrong, but not what counts as a murder [Foot]
The
33 ideas
with the same theme
[attitudes to terminating a life before birth]:
2844
|
Abortions should be procured before the embryo has acquired life and sensation
[Aristotle]
|
5508
|
Aquinas says a fertilized egg is not human, and has no immortal soul
[Aquinas, by Martin/Barresi]
|
7225
|
It is a crime to create a being who lacks the ordinary chances of a desirable existence
[Mill]
|
22383
|
Abortion is puzzling because we do and don't want the unborn child to have rights
[Foot]
|
22446
|
In the case of something lacking independence, calling it a human being is a matter of choice
[Foot]
|
4695
|
Maybe abortion can be justified despite the foetus having full human rights
[Thomson, by Foot]
|
4696
|
The foetus is safe in the womb, so abortion initiates its death, with the mother as the agent.
[Foot on Thomson]
|
4057
|
A newly fertilized ovum is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree
[Thomson]
|
4058
|
Is someone's right to life diminished if they were conceived by a rape?
[Thomson]
|
4059
|
It can't be murder for a mother to perform an abortion on herself to save her own life
[Thomson]
|
4061
|
The right to life is not a right not to be killed, but not to be killed unjustly
[Thomson]
|
4060
|
The right to life does not bestow the right to use someone else's body to support that life
[Thomson]
|
4062
|
No one is morally required to make huge sacrifices to keep someone else alive for nine months
[Thomson]
|
4131
|
Most women see an early miscarriage and a late stillbirth as being very different in character
[Williams,B]
|
6999
|
It is hard to justify the huge difference in our judgements of abortion and infanticide
[Jackson]
|
20284
|
Why should a potential person have the rights of an actual person?
[Singer]
|
4652
|
If killing is wrong because it destroys future happiness, not conceiving a happy child is also wrong
[Glover]
|
4662
|
Defenders of abortion focus on early pregnancy, while opponents focus on later stages
[Glover]
|
4663
|
If abortion is wrong, it is because a foetus is a human being or a person (or potentially so)
[Glover]
|
4664
|
If abortion is wrong because of the 'potential' person, that makes contraception wrong too
[Glover]
|
4666
|
If viability is a test or boundary at the beginning of life, it should also be so for frail old people
[Glover]
|
4667
|
How would we judge abortion if mothers had transparent wombs?
[Glover]
|
4665
|
Conception isn't the fixed boundary for a person's beginning, because twins are possible within two weeks
[Glover]
|
4672
|
Apart from side effects, it seems best to replace an inadequate foetus with one which has a better chance
[Glover]
|
4674
|
It is always right for a qualified person to perform an abortion when requested by the mother
[Glover]
|
4673
|
Abortion differs morally from deliberate non-conception only in its side-effects
[Glover]
|
4872
|
Most people see an abortion differently if the foetus lacks a brain
[Dennett]
|
4054
|
I may exist before I become a person, just as I exist before I become an adult
[Lockwood]
|
4055
|
It isn't obviously wicked to destroy a potential human being (e.g. an ununited egg and sperm)
[Lockwood]
|
4056
|
If the soul is held to leave the body at brain-death, it should arrive at the time of brain-creation
[Lockwood]
|
7587
|
The issue of abortion seems insoluble, because there is nothing with which to compare it
[Scruton]
|
7103
|
Abortion issues focus on the mother's right over her body, and the status of the foetus
[Statman]
|
20619
|
Is abortion the ending of a life, or a decision not to start one?
[Tuckness/Wolf]
|