Mary Warren Abortion Analysis

There are many factors that are taken into consideration when determining if abortion is morally permissible, or wrong including; sentience of the fetus, the fetuses right to life, the difference between adult human beings and fetuses, the autonomy of the pregnant woman, and the legality of abortion. Don Marquis argues that abortion is always morally wrong, excluding cases in which the woman is threatened by pregnancy, or abortion after rape, because fetuses have a valuable future. Mary Anne Warren contends that late term abortions are morally permissible because birth is the most significant event for a fetus, and a woman’s autonomy should never be suspended.

Mary Anne Warren argues in the position that abortion is morally permissible because the fetus is not a person therefore has no rights and not considered immoral to be killed. I shall argue that Warren’s argument in invalid since the claims of argument cannot be proven.

Mary Anne Warren’s argument on the legal status of abortion stands on a concrete understanding and realization of an individual’s personhood. Now Mary Anne Warren’s unyielding argument on the basis of personhood is that, “If we assume that an entity is a person just because it happens to belong to our favored biological classification, we stand convicted of speciesism, close cousin to racism. There are properties that do qualify an entity as a person, but simply being human is not one of them” (124). To first be able to argue why the abortion of a fetus is permissible she needs to give a clear distinction of what can be established a decisive factor of personhood. To distinguish a line between a fetus and a human and if abortion is to be morally permissible there needs to be an understanding of when this cut off between the two officially happens. In an example of the potential personhood and a right to life Mary Ann Warren uses a hypothetical scenario of a space explorer who lands on an unknown plant. While on this plant he encounters a race of aliens. Now since he is on another plant in the presence of these alien beings how should he act towards these beings. He must first determine if they have the capability of morality or if it is acceptable to consume these aliens for food. To determine if these aliens are in fact part of a moral personhood maybe he can notice works of art, forms of tools, and communication. However, even without evidence of these things they could

The subject of abortion is not only a moral obligation, but also an intellectual calling to raise the awareness of its pro and anti-calling. It is no doubt that the moral obligation of an adult is to safeguard life, protect it, and preserve its sanctity. Don Marquis (1989) in his article Why Abortion is Immoral, presents an extensive argument against the morality of abortion citing the potential of the fetus and its capability to be recognized as a being. As such, Marquis firmly believes that abortion is a wrong act and must be banned and condemned in a moral society. The perspective also supports his argument that killing humans is morally wrong.

Throughout the United States there has always been a big debate on whether or not abortion is ethically acceptable or not. Though many individuals see it as killing a child, many others can overlook that burden and see the consequences of having a child at that point in time. Individuals who are put in a pregnancy situation and have to look into all aspects of an abortion and the reasons for this procedure, while also realizing the biological development of the fetus, and the process of an abortion.

Marry Anne Warren and Don Marquis present arguments in favor of and in opposition to the moral permissibility of aborting a pregnancy. Both raise important points, but I am not fully convinced by either argument. Warren proposes a justification for allowing abortion based on the idea of a moral community. According to this view, moral agents have an exclusive or at least preferential obligation to those entities that meet the criteria for membership in the moral community, and their rights should never be violated for the sake of an entity that is not a member. The criterion Warren chooses is personhood, which entails one or more of the characteristics of sentience, communication, reason, emotion, and so on. The essential point of Warren’s

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

Since the trial of Roe vs. Wade the topic of abortion has become more commonly discussed among Americans. In addition, as time progresses there are new scientific discoveries that are being used the medical field; for example, prenatal diagnosis, “determining the sex of a fetus by an ultrasound scanning” (Junhong). Furthermore, with these medical advances it has created an issue of selective abortion, “abortions procured solely on account of a fetus's race, sex, or disability” (Berry. This essay discusses the moral judgement of the fetus by considering the case study, the utilitarian reasoning, and the Kantian reasoning when evaluating when it is morally right to use prenatal diagnosis for selective abortions.

The author asserts that even though an unborn child has a right to life, it does not necessarily mean that the mother must keep it. Thomson (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 31) confirms that the unborn child does not have the right against the mother that she should keep it.

The status of abortion is one that will always be argued amongst the pro-life community and the pro-choice community. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks. (Dictionary) Jane and John are two accomplished individuals who put their careers ahead of having children. When Jane became pregnant they discovered that the baby had Down syndrome (Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes lifelong mental retardation, developmental delays and other problems. Down syndrome varies in severity, so developmental problems range from moderate to serious.) (Staff) They did not want have a disabled child, so they decide to abort. In this essay I will argue that it is morally wrong for Jane to have an abortion. Firstly I will present the “extreme” conservative argument to support my view, secondly I will consider one objection to my argument and finally I will provide a response to the objection.

Abortion, the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy through the agency of the mother, is a highly debated ethical issue. Abortion is an ethical issue because it involves violating the either the fetus’s natural right to live, or the mother’s right to freedom. The two most common approaches to this issue are pro-life and pro-choice. The pro-life approach argues that the fetus is a human who has sentience and natural rights, and therefore it is wrong to harm the unborn child. One of the most common issues within the abortion dilemma is the problem of personhood. There is debate over what qualifications the fetus must display in order to have the rights that come with moral personhood. One ethical principle that can be applied to the issue of personhood in relation to abortion is the Value of Life Principle. Under the Value of Life ethical principle, preservation of life takes precedence over all other ethical values. Therefore, according to this principle, if it can be determined that the fetus has the right to life, that right must be preserved. However, even if it is determined that fetuses have natural rights, the mother already has the same rights which creates conflict. The pro-choice approach argues that the fetus is a part of the mother, and therefore her rights to freedom and ownership of her own body are more important than a fetus’s rights. It cannot be argued that the mother is not a fully sentient being, and therefore, the mother’s rights are undeniable.

Mary Anne Warren is a proponent of abortion and would agree with Sister Margaret McBride’s and St. Joseph’s Hospital’s decision to go through with the abortion whether or not the mother’s life was in danger. Warren believes that the most important moral issue regarding abortion is the moral status of the fetus. Warren states that “the moral community consists of all and only people, rather than all and only human beings” (On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, p. 54). Warren finds this distinction between being human and being a person the most important issue regarding the morality of abortion.

“Abortion is the spontaneous or artificially induced expulsion of an embryo or fetus” (Abortion, 2002). An artificially induced abortion is the type referred to in the legal context. Abortions happen in different situations. The question comes when is it the right or wrong choice. The root question becomes the moment a fetus becomes a person and entitled to rights. The fetus could be a person at conception, during the pregnancy, or at birth. The deciding moment differs from the Pro-life group and Pro-choice group. After critically analyzing four different arguments about the pros and cons of abortion, one will be able to understand the ethical, moral, and

In our society, there are many ethical dilemmas that we are faced with that are virtually impossible to solve. One of the most difficult and controversial issues that we are faced with is abortion. There are many strong arguments both for and against the right to have an abortion which are so complicated that it becomes impossible to resolve. The complexity of this issue lies in the different aspects of the argument. The essence of a person, rights, and who is entitled to these rights, are a few of the many aspects which are very difficult to define. There are also issues of what circumstances would justify abortion. Because the issue of abortion is virtually impossible to solve, all one can hope

Moral rights have played a role in our society for the better. These rights help make us equal and have brought up value in every person life. Moral rights should be viewed as something that should protect us from unfair judgment. In other words, these rights should give us a sense of equality in which we are all equal and given a good opportunity in life and more importantly the right to life. One of these major moral problems includes abortion in which a fetus life is taken away without having to live his/her. Some argue that a fetus hasn’t fully developed but in the future this problem has destroyed the chance for human moral rights as they take chances away for a human life to live. These fetuses should still be viewed as a human being. This should be solved because it should be part of our moral rights. Happiness and morality are independent and go together because being morally responsible and trustworthy will make a person happy.