Abortion Is Immoral Don Marquis Summary

Nowadays, in this world, there are a lot of problems that can make tremendous conflicts for human beings. They are very complicated and bring a lot of argument and nobody knows what the exact answer is. They also have pros and cons. One of the most complex problems is abortion. This is due to moral and ethical values which we all have. The majority of us are Christians or are brought up in that kind of ambiance which means that as small children we were taught values that are based on the bible such as that famous phrase “Thou shall not kill”. This phrase relates to this topic because an abortion is the murder of a human being.

Christians don’t believe that abortion should have happen they say that abortion should not happen because God says that it shouldn’t happen. “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). Christians see that life is sacred to God.

I specify Christians because I am not familiar with the rights or wrongs of abortions in other religions. Christians use the bible for teaching and reproof. The bible is not confusing when it comes to this issue. In the new world translation of the bible the psalmist states “Your eyes saw even the embryo of me.” (Psalm 139:16) There are several instances where God has condemned the murder of an unborn child. In Exodus 21: 22-23 22 there is an illustration and condemnation of evens that cause the accidental harm of a pregnant woman. It states “If men should struggle with each other and they hurt a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but no fatality results, the offender must pay the damages imposed on him by the husband of the woman; and he must pay it through the judges. 23 But if a fatality does occur, then you must give life for life, God stated that a person would be called to account for injuring an unborn child. So, in his eyes, killing an unborn child is murder. (Ex. 21:22,

In “Why Abortion is Immoral”, Don Marquis offers his anti-abortion argument known as a “future like ours" (Marquis, 558). Marquis takes a step back from focusing on the complicated moral status of the fetus, and instead asks seemingly less controversial questions: what makes killing an innocent adult wrong, and what right we adult humans possess not to be killed? His answer serves as the first premise for his argument: killing is prima facie morally wrong because it deprives an individual of their future of value. His second premise is that killing a fetus, i.e. abortion, also deprives it a future of value, which he refers to as a “future like ours” (559). Marquis concludes that because fetuses possess the innate property that is sufficient to make killing adult human beings wrong, that killing fetuses is also wrong. Simply stated, abortions are prima facie immoral, for the same reason that killing an innocent adult is prima facie immoral (559)

In Don Marquis “An Argument that Abortion is Wrong” he sets out to prove that abortions are unethical

Don Marquis is a Professor at the University of Kansas. Marquis argues that, with rare exceptions, abortion is immoral. The rare exceptions where abortion can be morally justified is when pregnancy is the result of a crime like rape, incest, or child abuse, and for the sake of the mother’s health. Harming the mother’s life would be depriving ones right to life for another’s which is immoral and it should be up to the mother if she wants to save herself or the baby since she is the one granting the baby a right to life. In the cases such as rape and incest abortion is also moral because the pregnancy had incurred without the mother’s consent and if not letting her have an abortion would just ruin her life since she will be reminded of those moments every time she sees the child. Other than these rare exceptions abortion is immoral according to Don

From a biblical worldview perspective, abortion is wrong since it is the killing of a human. All humans are created by God and are created in His image. Since God is the creator of humans, He has the authority to set the value of life and not humans. Human life has value not only because God made them in His image but also because God redeemed them through His Son, Jesus Christ. Multiple verses in the New Testament, including John 3:16 and Romans 5:8, state how God loved humans enough to give up His own Son so humans can have a right relationship with Him. Jesus also talks about how humans are valuable to the Father in Matthew 10:31. God values all life and this includes the life of the unborn. In Psalm 139, David praises God for seeing him in His mother’s womb and ordaining all his days. God is the one who forms the baby in the womb. He does so in great detail and care, knitting together each baby in their mother’s womb. God does not start to value a human once they are born, instead, He knows and calls them even when they are in the mother’s womb. As in Jeremiah 1:5 and Isaiah 49:1, God called and set apart these prophets before they were even formed in the womb. Even Paul believed that God “set me apart from my mother 's womb and called me by his grace.” (Galatians 1:15). God values the unborn baby, He even calls the “fruit of the

Although abortion is not stated in the bible, the teaching of it is in there by saying how human life is sacred and humans were created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 states, “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” The Bible also teaches that children are a blessing. Psalm 127: 3 states, “Truly children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the woman is a reward.” God writes, “Thou shalt not kill” in several different places in the bible. These quotes from the Bible back the argument that abortion is wrong. Not only does the Bible show evidence of abortion being wrong, but also abortion causes physical complications to the woman and can affect her ability of future pregnancies. The Centers for Disease Control states that “CDC have received reports of the deaths of 386 women from legal abortion between 1973, when abortion was legalized nationwide, and 2004.” A team in New Zealand analyzed data during a 25-year period and found that abortion in young women has risks of depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviors, and alcohol dependence. The woman’s health is a main factor when it comes to abortion. Rape also plays a big factor in why woman should not have an abortion. I believe that even if a woman is raped, the child still deserves the right to life. The woman has undergone a terrible trauma, but abortion cannot un-rape the woman. To kill the innocent child is

Don Marquis starts off his essay stating that most anti-abortion arguments are often thought of as of “irrational religious dogma or a conclusion generated by seriously confused philosophical argument.” (Marquis, p 183). He goes on to say that his essay will show abortion is seriously immoral and in the same moral category as killing an innocent adult human. Marquis then deconstructs typical arguments made both for and against abortion. He disagrees with the common arguments made by the anti-abortionist because the moral principles they use are often too broad in scope. Marquis draws parallels between the typical anti-abortionist arguments and the standard pro-choice arguments. For example, he notes the anti-abortionist will often make the claim that life is present at conception or the fetus looks like a baby and therefore it is a human being with a right to life. Regarding the pro-choice arguments Marquis notices similar arguments in the other direction. For example, the pro-choicer will claim the fetuses are not persons. Marquis notices there is too much ambiguity in the arguments of both sides. Marquis says that the moral claims made by each party do not do a good job touching the essence of the matter. Marquis then goes on to state that in order to understand why abortion is wrong we must first find out why it is wrong to kill us. He arrives at the conclusion that it is wrong to kill us because it deprives us our future. Marquis argues that since a standard fetus has a future just like a child or an adult

In the article, “Why Abortion Is Immoral”, Don Marquis begins his discussion by arguing that standard arguments or standard explanations for and against abortion are rather similar and fairly unsophisticated. He states that the debate has become “intractable.” In the sense that the two sides of the issue have become a dug-in and no one is willing to listen to the other side at this point meaning that it is an entrenched opinion. He argues that we need a fresh start to the issue a better way to think about wrongful killing, in the philosophical literature is something debated that whether wrongful killing such as murder is bad because of the effect on the murderer or the effect on the society or the effect on the victim.

Although Don Marquis’s argument against abortion follows this idea against killing, his argument values the life of an unborn human and the life of an adult human equally, disregards the differences between the two, ignores the life of the person caring the unborn baby, and ignores moral exceptions to killing .

In “Why Abortion is Immoral,” Don Marquis argues that abortion is immoral because it denies the victim, which is the fetus or embryo, of their right to a future-like-ours. He argues that killing is prima facie wrong, and that this logic can be applied to a fetus. In this paper, I will address the ambiguity within the future-like-ours theory, which I will refer to as the FLO theory, and argue that the fetus’ right to a future of value does not override and should not be prioritized over the right to a future of value for the fetus’ host, which is the mother.

Religious arguments constitute another group of reasons against abortion. All Western culture is mainly based on Christian religion, which believes abortions to be morally wrong. Christian faith insists on the human nature of the unborn child and regards abortion as a murder. Actually the Bible does not say anything about abortion. This argument is often used by the proponents of abortion. In reality during the time when the Bible was written abortion

Abortion is tremendously unethical, just like murder is highly immoral. Many religions oppose the idea of abortion; Christianity considers abortion to be a sin under all circumstances; Hinduism considers abortion to be a form of violence. In addition, when the woman decides to have a sexual intercourse with a man without any proper use of contraception, she knows that pregnancy will result. If the mother did not want the baby in the first place or if she could not take on the responsibility of the baby, then she should not get pregnant just to later on kill the unborn innocent child in her womb. Abortion can not only harm the baby, but can also cause physical and psychological damage

Abortion also in some eyes was a sin according to the bible it says “thou shall not kill” thus prohibiting people from harming others and their selves. But arguments in accordance with the preceding quote argue the question when does life actually begin? Some argue that life begins at conception while others argue that life does not exist until the fetus lives outside of the mother. Also if we go as far as to say a fetus is a human, then we mine as well call the sperm or an egg a human, so should we ban birth control all together since we are killing a “human” (abortion 3) ? When one makes a statement that abortion is murder they usually argue that by time most women decide to do the abortion the fetus already has a heart, brain, circulation, and other body arts that a “human being” has outside of the womb. Another arguing point is that how can society accept the death penalty which is a sentence of punishment by death, but be opposed to abortion, that is hypocrisy.