Overview

The ethics of abortion centers on the moral status of the fetus and the rights of the pregnant person. It is one of the most polarized debates in modern society.

Core Idea

The conflict is often framed as a clash of rights: the Right to Life (of the fetus) vs. the Right to Bodily Autonomy (of the woman).

Formal Definition

  • Pro-Life (Anti-Abortion): Typically argues the fetus is a person from conception and has a right to life that outweighs other considerations.
  • Pro-Choice: Typically argues that the woman has the right to control her own body and reproductive capacity, and/or that the fetus is not yet a person with full rights.

Intuition

  • The Violinist (Judith Jarvis Thomson): Imagine you wake up attached to a famous violinist who needs your kidneys to survive for 9 months. Even if the violinist is a person, do you have a duty to stay attached? Thomson argues no; the right to life doesn’t imply a right to use someone else’s body.
  • Potentiality: A fetus is a potential human. Is destroying a blueprint the same as destroying a building?

Examples

  • Personhood: When does a human become a “person”? Conception? Heartbeat? Viability? Birth? Consciousness?
  • Hard Cases: Rape, incest, or threat to the mother’s life. (Most, but not all, views make exceptions here).

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: It’s a debate between religion and science.
    • Correction: There are secular pro-life arguments (based on human rights) and religious pro-choice arguments. Science tells us what is there (biological development), but philosophy tells us what value it has.
  • Misconception: Pro-choice means “pro-abortion.”
    • Correction: Most view it as a difficult choice that should remain legal, not necessarily a “good” thing in itself.
  • Bodily Autonomy: The principle that a person has sole authority over their own body.
  • Moral Status: The degree to which an entity deserves moral consideration.
  • Viability: The point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb (often a legal threshold).

Applications

  • Law: Roe v. Wade (US), and varying laws globally.
  • Reproductive Justice: A broader framework that includes the right to have children and raise them in safe environments, not just the right to abortion.

Criticism and Limitations

  • The Future Like Ours (Don Marquis): A famous secular argument against abortion: killing is wrong because it deprives the victim of a “future like ours.” Abortion deprives the fetus of this future.
  • Infanticide: If personhood requires consciousness, does that justify killing newborns? (A challenge for strict personhood theories).

Further Reading

  • A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson
  • Why Abortion is Immoral by Don Marquis
  • The Ethics of Homicide by Philip Devine