Even today, there are many moral and philosophical issues that divide the United States because they create very polarized opinions and beliefs. One such philosophical issue is the moral permissibility of infanticide. Mary Anne Warren, a philosopher, presents her liberal yet controversial views on the issue of infanticide in the postscript of her article, On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion. However, the anti-infanticide arguments pose problems for Warren’s position because they justify the immorality of infanticide through the physical similarity in resemblance of neonates to human beings. These arguments also claim that the destruction of a viable infant is needless because even if the infant’s biological parents reject the infant, there are many other parents who are willing to adopt and nurture that infant. …show more content…
However, she continues on to state that neither the abortion of a fetus nor the killing of a neonate could count as murder of a person because both, a fetus and an infant, lack all of the plausible components of personhood. Warren explicates that in an impoverished society that is unable to care for its infants without jeopardizing the health and safety of its members, infanticide cannot be deemed morally wrong. She also claims that infanticide is morally justified in the form of euthanasia where the child is born with severe abnormalities and the parents are unable to afford the financial and emotional burdens of its treatment. Warren’s response to infanticide is completely justified because in case of life or death, the life of an actual person far outweighs the life of a potential
It the undeveloped human happened to survive without her the mother has no right to then take the humans life. This theory is reflected in her text
Though Barbara Hewson thoroughly demonstrates skill and knowledge in the subject of abortion, she takes the subject of many conflicts and turns it into a mess of unpersuasive words. The development of her stance on this subject shows no growth, and although she demonstrated the use of ethos, her article seems to endlessly cover the same information she had already delivered. Her use of logos and pathos is lacking, and what little use of ethos she has gives the reader only basic knowledge, and does not seem to help deliver her point. Hewson’s intended audience, based on her writing, is people of higher educational levels, or rather, those working on higher education in medical fields. Her lack of usage in basic Aristotelian rhetoric resulted
Given that the infant, like any infant, is not a person, as I see it, I think that it’s ethically defensible to say we do not have to continue its life. It doesn’t have a right to life”. It’s a jarring opening statement to say the least,
When it comes to abortion, a lot can be said. More specifically, author and philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson takes her own stand on abortion, saying it is morally permissible to get abortions. Morally, I disagree with her stance on this. The reason I think this way is because I feel that there were other options open to us, than the main one being abortion. These other options, I feel are better and have better outcomes for the child than abortion.
Warren’s claim is meant to support the idea that is acceptable to abort a fetus, which is considered a “potential person,” no matter what stage of development it is in because that would then be taking away the rights of the woman, which is considered an actual person. Unlike Warren, Patrick Lee and Robert P George claim “…
“... The number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. [is about] 1.06 million a year” (National Right to Life News). This means that in just a single decade, 10.6 million children are murdered in the United States before they are ever born. This sickening loss of life is just the latest link in an unbroken chain of human depravity stretching back to the Garden of Eden. Humans are fundamentally wicked. William Golding, author of the bestselling novel ‘Lord of the Flies’, understood this basic principle.
An article of the history of pro-life movements explains, “Many view abortion as inhumane and a violation to the unborn baby’s right to life” (Holland). While abortion is the process of terminating a pregnancy, therefore ending an unborn child’s life, a majority of women who have abortions don’t have the resources or capacity to care for another human being. Some pregnancies are a result of rape, incest, or compromises the mother’s health. One might argue that adoption is always an option; however, the American adoption system held 114,000 unadopted children in
Nancy Flanders once said in her article, “Here’s Why Abortion is Wrong”, “You can pretend preborn babies aren’t human beings, but science proves otherwise, repeatedly showing that a preborn human is unique from his mother.” It’s a great message for everyone who is thinking about getting an abortion and for the mothers who are against it. Flanders also said, “Today’s Hitler is the abortion industry, and today’s slaves are the preborn children” (Here’s Why Abortion). This is a powerful quote as well, because it’s so true, preborn babies are forcefully ripped from their mother’s wombs. Abortion is basically
Peter Singer is a well-known Australian moral philosopher whose work in applied ethics for example abortion, animal liberation and infanticide has led to controversy. Singer’s willingness to work through the controversial topics made him became so famous around the world. When Singer’s paper about abortion and infanticide was publicised, Singer has proven to be a popular target especially among the pro-life activists. Singer exclaimed that membership of Homo-Sapiens is not sufficient to confer a right to life (Hassan. P, 2015).
Abortion is not only a fluctuating concept in our society, but an ethical and emotional debate, as well. The image I have chosen presents concepts from a cultural and historical background, as well as presents an ethical, emotional, and logical appeal to the audience. The debate about abortion has simply been overblown and exhausted. The truth of the matter is, abortion is murder. Ending a life, whether innocent or guilty, is murder.
In this speech I hope to present a persuasive moral argument that abortion is akin to murder and should be avoided, even if the child is unplanned or unwanted or the women would be in danger by the consequences of abortion. (Transition: Let’s look more closely at the health risks posed by cell phones.) Body I. Abortion is a murder. It is the intentionally killing of a human being and it is also can be considered as a war on the unborn which are obviously defenseless and voiceless. A. Abortion denies the right of the eternal being to have a mortal experience and also learning experience in this world.
In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Thomson argues with a unique approach regarding the topic of abortion. For the purpose of the argument, Thomas agrees to go against her belief and constructs an argument based on the idea that the fetus is a person at conception. She then formulates her arguments concerning that the right to life is not an absolute right. There are certain situations where abortion is morally permissible. She believes that the fetus’s right to life does not outweigh the right for the woman to control what happens to her own body.
The debate whether abortion is morally permissible or not permissible is commonly discussed between the considerations of the status of a fetus and ones virtue theory. A widely recognized theory of pro-choice advocates can be thought to be that their ethical view is that fetus’s merely are not humans because they lack the right to life since they believe a fetus does not obtain any sort of mental functions or capability of feelings. Although this may be true in some cases it is not in all so explaining the wrongness of killing, between the common debates whether a fetus does or does not obtain human hood, should be illustrated in a way of a virtuous theory. The wrongness of killing is explained by what the person or fetus is deprived of, such as their right to life; not by means of a heart beat or function of one’s body, but by the fact that it takes their ability of potentially growing into a person to have the same human characteristics as we do.
(Tanner) Pro-choice defenders also say that it is the woman 's right to choose to have the baby or not, forgetting the baby 's rights. The life of a human being begins at the moment of conception, and it is not the fetus´s fault if the mother wasn 't ready to have a baby or if the situation in which baby was conceived wasn 't ideal. For example, if the baby is conceived by rape, the baby should not pay the consequences of other people, he or she has not done anything wrong .”Compassion for the mothers is extremely important, but it is never
For each fertilization procedure, several eggs will be collected and fertilized. At the end more than one embryo will be formed. Shannon (1988) doubts whether who can have the right to manage the extra embryos produced, because embryos are the precursor of human beings. Though they are not human, they have the potential to develop into an individual. This article may be considered as an old source, but the above argument appears to be valid as this moral concern is still applicable to today’s situation.