CHAPTER 9 Abortion
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Background and Facts about Abortion
A. Definition
B. Conception
C. Viability
D. Abortion Procedures
E. The Moral Issue and the Legal Issue
F. Roe v. Wade
G. Personhood
II. Moral Theories and Abortion
A. Act-Utilitarianism
B. Rule-Utilitarianism
C. Kantian Ethics
D. Natural Law Theory
III. Moral Arguments and Abortion
A. The Conservative Argument
B. The Liberal Argument
1. Conservative Objections
2. Warren’s Personhood Argument
C. The Moderate Positions
1. Thomson’s Violinist Argument
1. The deliberate termination of a pregnancy by surgical or medical (with drugs) means is known
generally as
a. therapeutic abortion. c. abortion, or induced abortion.
b. trimester abortion. d. spontaneous abortion.
2. An abortion specifically performed to protect the life or health of the mother is referred to as
a. induced abortion. c. maternal abortion.
b. spontaneous abortion. d. therapeutic abortion.
3. Most abortions are performed in the
a. first twelve weeks of gestation. c. first three weeks.
b. period just after viability. d. period just before viability.
4. The risk of death for women who have an abortion at eight weeks or earlier is
a. 0.3 deaths per 100,000 abortions. c. one death per 1,000 abortions.
b. one death per 100,000 abortions. d. one death per 10,000 abortions.
5. In Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
a. all abortions at any stage of pregnancy are permissible.
b. in the first three months of pregnancy, a state may regulate (but not ban) abortion; after viability, a state may forbid abortions,
even those necessary to preserve the health or life of the woman.
c. in the first three months of pregnancy, the woman’s right to an abortion is unrestricted; after this period, a state may regulate and
even forbid abortions.
d. in the first three months of pregnancy, the woman’s right to an abortion is unrestricted; after this period, a state may regulate (but
not ban) abortion; after viability, a state may regulate and even forbid abortions, except when abortion is necessary to preserve the
health or life of the woman.
6. The view that the fetus becomes a person at quickening is problematic because
a. the phenomenon of quickening is an illusion.
b. quickening is largely a function of modern medical know-how.
c. quickening signals a quantum jump in the sentience of the fetus.
d. quickening signifies nothing that can be plausibly linked to personhood.
7. Chinese parents who argue that aborting female fetuses prevents economic harm to the family,
and should be allowed, would be using a(n) ________ argument.
a. Kantian c. ethical egoist
b. utilitarian d. legal
8. In arguments over abortion, both the conservative and the liberal agree that
a. abortion is the killing of an innocent person.
b. abortion before birth would not be the killing of an innocent person.
c. it is wrong to kill an innocent person.
d. the unborn is not a person until birth.
9. The liberal argues that if the unborn is not a person until birth, and it is wrong to kill a person, then
a. infanticide is permissible.
b. abortion before birth would be impermissible.
c. abortion before birth would not be the killing of an innocent person.
d. abortion is permissible before and after birth.
10. According to Mary Anne Warren’s criteria for personhood, a self-motivated space alien that was conscious, able to reason and
communicate, and was self-aware would be
a. a person. c. unclassifiable.
b. not a person. d. morally equivalent to an Earth primate.
11. Judith Jarvis Thomson’s position is argued without
a. reference to the rights of women. c. admitting that the fetus has a right to life.
b. relying on thought experiments. d. relying on the issue of personhood.
12. With the violinist scenario, Judith Jarvis Thomson tries to show that
a. the fetus is not a person.
b. in pregnancy, the body of the mother can always be exploited.
c. the mother has a right to defend herself against the unborn’s use of her body against
her will (a right to have an abortion).
d. the mother has no right to defend herself against the unborn’s use of her body
against her will.
13. Suppose Katrina is a rule-utilitarian and believes that following the rule “Girls under the age of
eighteen should not be permitted to to have abortions without notifying a parent or guardian”
would maximize happiness. Which of the following would be the best reason for Katrina’s
view?
a. Some young women are abused by their parents.
b. A parent’s guidance tends to be helpful and needed, and some young women have regretted having abortions.
c. Even females under the age of eighteen have a right to medical privacy and confidentiality.
d. No girl under the age of eighteen has regretted having an abortion.
14. Robert is a Kantian theorist and also believes that fetuses are persons from conception.
Suppose Robert is trying to determine whether abortions are morally permissible in situations
where the woman’s life is in danger as a result of continuing the pregnancy. Which of the
following should be the focus of Robert’s deliberations?
a. whether aborting the pregnancy will have the best consequences overall
b. whether aborting the pregnancy will be an instance of violating a person’s
right to life
c. whether aborting the pregnancy would be legally allowed
d. whether aborting the pregnancy would be a justifiable instance of overriding a person’s right to life
MSC: Applying
TRUE/FALSE
1. “Is abortion morally right?” is primarily a legal question.
2. An act-utilitarian would say that an abortion is morally wrong whenever the fetus is a person.
3. Some conservatives have argued that the fetus becomes a human being at conception because it receives the human genetic code at
that point.
4. Premise 1: The unborn is an innocent person from conception.
Premise 2: It is wrong to kill an innocent person.
Premise 3: Abortion is the killing of an innocent person.
Conclusion: Therefore, abortion is wrong.
This argument is valid.
5. The conservative can argue that Mary Anne Warren’s view of personhood leads to an absurdity:
if a fetus is not a person, then neither is a newborn. Thus, killing a newborn would be permissible.
6. Mary Anne Warren suggests that being genetically human is the same thing as being a person
in the moral sense.
7. Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that abortion may sometimes be permissible whether or not the
fetus is a person.
TOP: III.C.1. Thomson’s Violinist Argument MSC: Understanding
SHORT ANSWER
1. At about twenty-three or twenty-four weeks, the state referred to as ________, the fetus may be
able to live outside the uterus.
2. ________ is the term used to refer to the beginning of fetal development when a sperm cell
enters an ovum and the two merge into a single cell called a zygote.
3. Isabella has adopted the view that abortion is always (or almost always) permissible. She
therefore holds the ________ view.
4. Ahmed rejects the claims that abortions are almost never permissible as well as the notion that
they almost always are. Thus, he holds the ________ view.