PHIL 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Abortion Debate, Fetus
Document Summary
Extreme liberal: abortion is permissible at any stage for any reason. Moderate: abortion is permissible at some stages for some reasons. (moderates can be more or less liberal or conservative, depending on what stages and reasons they allow. ) Extreme conservative: it is never permissible. (at no stage, for no reason) Is a fetus a person? (does it have a right to life?) It is important to see the difference between these two questions. Noonan"s argument: a fetus has a human genetic code from the moment of conception, therefore, it is human from the moment of conception, all humans have a right to life, therefore, a fetus has a right to life. 5: therefore, abortion is (almost always) immoral. If a being has a right to life, then it is (almost always) wrong to kill it. Noonan claims that a fetus has the potential to develop into a human being since it has a human genetic code.
