Martin's Arguments Against Abortion

On Friday, 07/29/2016, at approximately 1130 hours, Deputy Martin Vaughn #2502 and I, Deputy Stacy Stark #1815 were dispatched to a landlord/tenant dispute located at 43 Chelsea Ln. Carbondale, Jackson County, Illinois.

In Judith A. Thomson’s article, ‘A defense of abortion’ Thomson defends her view that in some cases abortion is morally permissible. She takes this stance even with the premise that fetuses upon the moment of conception are in fact regarded as persons. However one criticism of her argument would be that there is a biological relationship between mother and fetus however there is no biological relationship between you and the violinist. Having this biological relationship therefore entails special responsibility upon the mother however there is no responsibility in the case of the violinist. Thomson argues against those who are opposed to abortion with her violinist thought experiment.

As the article goes on, Valenti enumerates and explains the recent violent attacks towards abortion clinics in the last few months, affirming that, in one of the attacks, “…the alleged perpetrator made a comment in its wake about ‘no more baby parts’.” The “baby parts” is the name often called by anti-choice supporters to fetal organs. This statement leaves an idea of what was the believe of the attacker towards the clinic. However, Valenti weakens her previous supporting details by claiming “The attack in Colorado, which left three people dead and nine wounded, was shocking, but it was also the predictable result of a culture that demonizes abortion…” In other words, the author is making a generalization by including a whole culture when proving

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.

When it comes to ethical issues in the world, there are not many more controversial issues outside of the topic of abortion. Abortion brings in emotion, religion and ethics all at once, which is why it is such a polarizing topic. This leads to having many on each side of the debate, such as Judith Thomson and John Noonan. Thomson makes many valid analogies in support of abortion in comparison to Noonan who just refutes basic arguments for abortion, and it is for this reason that Thomson is more persuasive.

In Mary Anne Warren’s “The Abortion Issue,” children are not persons in the empirical sense. Warren believes that prior to a certain point in a pregnancy, the child does not have “the capacity to understand” the ramifications of what an abortion would be, therefore the abortion does not infringe upon the rights of the unborn fetus. She states that: “…in the ways that matter from a moral point of view, human fetuses are very unlike human persons, particularly in their early months of development”(152). In essence, personhood as defined by Warren can only come after the first trimester. Before that time, the fetus does not have the sentience that would make it a person. Warren’s main criteria for

Another pro-life group is known as the Pro-life Action League. This group holds prayer vigils outside abortion facilities and provides sidewalk counseling to women and/or couples seeking abortions. The goal of this is to provide abortion alternatives, counseling, access to pregnancy resources, etc. This group is also involved in public protests to raise awareness of the injustice of abortion; they participate in marches, pickets, prayer vigils, and also raise awareness by holding large abortion pictures on busy streets to show what the end result of abortion is on an unborn child. They also hold a monthly protest at Planned Parenthood in Aurora, one of the busiest Planned Parenthood clinics, and protest pro-abortion politicians and other public figures that oppose the rights of unborn babies. Some of the other objectives of this group are to confront abortionists, abortion promoters, infiltrate pro-choice group meetings, and provide training to pro-life activists to help them organize effective programs and become successful pro-life leaders. I have discussed four very different groups, half are pro-choice and half are pro-life. While researching groups actively participating in rallying for or against abortion, there were so many with different tactics and resources available for both sides of the abortion debate.

- The overwhelming majority of abortion clinic—88%—experienced at least one form of harassment in 2008. 87% reported picketing, 42% were picketing with patient blocking, and 21% cited incidents of vandalism. And more shockingly, nearly one-fifth of all of the largest abortion facilities reported a bomb threat. (Jones, 2011)

After reading this week’s assigned readings and documentary, I could not help but to disagree with just about everything Paul Hill wrote in his article, along with what the members of the Army of God said in the documentary. The justification given by Paul Hill and other individuals associated with the Army of God is essentially that they are protecting the unborn (Hill, 2003; Soldiers in the Army of God, 2000). In his own article, Hill states, “The most powerful weapon for overcoming the world's apathetic response to legal abortion is to advocate the means necessary for resisting this atrocity (as required by God's law).” While I understand, but do not agree with the logic of this justification, I do not understand nor agree with their violent methods of protecting the unborn. Is violence effective in protecting the unborn? It does not seem plausible that injuring or killing an abortion provider and bombing or setting on fire an abortion clinic will directly drive overall abortion rates down. I believe that while rates of abortion will decline in an area threatened by violence, the rate of abortion will most likely go up in the areas that surround

According to the National Abortion Federation, in the last thirty years, the Army Of God has been responsible for 383 death threats, 100 butyric acid attacks, 41 bombing, 3 kidnappings, 383 death threats, and 373 physical invasions of abortion providers. The Army of God is an underground Christian Fundamentalist group consisting of anti-abortion extremists that began in the 1980’s after the Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion. The Army of God uses its Christian roots to promote violence against abortion clinics and reproductive health-care workers.

Abortion is the deliberate killing of the weakest and most defenseless among us. Unfortunately, for the last few decades, the practice has been recognized as a fundamental human right by the highest court of the land. American culture has become increasingly accepting of traditional values and principles being compromised. Political correctness now replaces ethics, self-reliance is replaced by dependency, and crudeness now takes the place of knowledgeability. Today’s culture is corrupt and morally depraved, and there is no other topic that demonstrates this better than abortion.

In On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, Mary Anne Warren discusses a few arguments against abortion, namely bringing into play whether the fetus is actually a person, or “not a member of the moral community”. She

Just as “The Torture Myth” relied mainly on pathos and scattered logos, the “2011 Louisiana Life March Promo Video (Louisiana March for Life,)” a promotional video for an anti-abortion march on the Louisiana State Capitol building, relies on the same argumentative appeals. The list of sponsors appearing at the end of the promotional video provides the only ethical appeal for the argument. This appeal, though taking up just a fraction of the runtime, can be the difference between gathering just hundreds of supporters for a cause and gathering tens of thousands of supporters. The video provided one logical appeal in the statement, “Since 1973, nearly 500,000 Louisiana children

Many individuals fail to understand the sheer magnitude of bloodshed, tribulation, and despair legalized abortion has initiated into the human experience – both in the United States and worldwide. Far more human lives have been violently ended by this immoral decision than any other war or genocide in history. It is one of the most controversial issues in today’s society. Abortion is the intentional decision to murder a human fetus by chemical, medical or surgical procedures. Those who support the rights of abortion argue that women should be able to decide what can be done to their bodies, yet the unborn baby inside a woman is a living being, and terminating that pregnancy is the equivalent of murder. These innocent children should not be held responsible for your mistakes. Don’t terminate pregnancy now, because you may not have children in the future at all.

Life is full of many difficult decisions and debatable topics. A widely debatable topic today, also known as the creation of all human life, is the views related to child birth and abortions. While doing some extensive research, I came across an article discussing the “Army of God”. This anti-abortion extremist group is known for their “use of violence to support the criminalization of abortion in the United States”(Bowman). As many other extremist groups, the group uses different tactics to lure others to believe as they do. Through their use of graphic images that are free to anyone that’ll like to use them to protest or as flyers, “they shock those who may be pro-choice supporters or particularly those who are ‘on the fence’ in relation to this issue; they have a high propaganda value” (Bowman). With them being anti-abortion, these individuals are against abortion and any provider or supporter of abortion. Not only have they verbally expressed their views, but they’ve gone as far as participating in many violent acts. Examples of these acts include murders of doctors and attacks at facilities that offer abortion services (Bowman). In satisfaction of their actions and beliefs the group has provided links to so called “heroes” and “activist involved and incarcerated or killed for the anti-abortion movement” (Bowman). This simple act of praise demonstrates their strong sense of faith that what they believe and stand for is moral. To finalize their strong views they have