Chapter 11: Abortion

1. Chapter 11: Abortion • Key terms – Prolife, prochoice, proabortion, and antichoice • Stages of Fetal Development • Methods of Abortion

2. Chapter 11: continued • Abortion and the Law • Is abortion immoral or illegal? • Roe v. Wade and the trimester approach • Planned Parenthood v. Casey and the undue burden approach • 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld the ban on partial birth abortion • Abortion: Is it a Moral Question?

3. Chapter 11: continued • Arguments that Do Not Depend on the Moral Status of the Fetus • Utilitarian reasoning • Some rights arguments

4. Chapter 11: continued • Arguments that Do Depend on the Moral Status of the Fetus • Method I: Fetal Development • Conception or fertilization • Detectable brain waves • Quickening • Viability

5. Chapter 11: continued • Method II: Moral Status and the Right to Life • Being Human • Being Like Human Beings • Potentiality • Actuality • Evolving Value

6. Chapter 11: continued • Reading: A Defense of Abortion • Begin by assuming that the fetus is a person form the moment of conception - The violinist example • The extreme position: abortion is never permissible • Abortion and a limited right to self-defense

7. Chapter 11: continued • The four theses • The box of chocolates • Clarifying the meaning of a “right” • Minimally Decent Samaritanism

8. Chapter 11: continued • Reading: Why Abortion is Immoral • The basic assumption in the abortion debate • The typical anti-abortion strategy • The typical pro-choice strategy • The standoff

9. Chapter 11: continued • Why is it wrong to kill an adult human being? • The wrongness of killing and the loss of a future • Support for the “loss of a future” argument • The prima facie wrongness of abortion • The permissibility of contraception