PHIL-P 140 Lecture 5: Abortion - Arguments from Warren, Thomson, and Marquis
Document Summary
Grant for the sake of argument that a fetus is a person from the moment. 1. a fetus is a person from the moment of conception. 2. all persons have a right to life. 3. unless one has an adequate justification, is it impossible to kill something that has a right to life. 4. the justifications offered but those attempting to establish the permissibility of abortion are not adequate. The mother has the right to decide what shall happen to her body. 5. thus, abortion (killing of a fetus) is impermissible. Thomson argues that premise 4 is false. Offers example: imagine there"s a famous violinist who has . Point: minimum one needs for continued life. this is because there are cases where a person with a right to life does . Most pregnancies are by choice, although many are not. We must answer a question to provide a satisfactory solution to the problem of the moral status of abortion:
