4 0 9W e i g h i n g fa c t o r sWe may imagine that each of these newly created men will... be a bona
fide (though hardly unique) person. Imagine that the whole project will
take only seconds, and that its chances of success are extremely high, and
that our explorer knows all of this, and also knows that these people will
be treated fairly. I maintain that in such a situation he would have every
right to escape if he could, and thus to deprive all of these potential peo-
ple of their potential lives... .”
Warren cites this example in order to show that “the rights of any actual
person invariably outweigh the rights of any [merely] potential person.”
Reconstruct (or construct!) her argument from her example to her conclu-
sion. What, if anything, does this claim about rights show about abortion?
How could opponents best respond to this argument?- Do Warren’s conclusions about morality support any further conclusions
about laws restricting abortions?
AN ARGUMENT THAT AbORTION IS WRONG^5
by Don MarquisThe purpose of this essay is to set out an argument for the claim that abor-
tion, except perhaps in rare instances, is seriously wrong. One reason for
these exceptions is to eliminate from consideration cases whose ethical
analysis should be controversial and detailed for clear-headed opponents of
abortion. Such cases include abortion after rape and abortion during the first
fourteen days after conception when there is an argument that the fetus is
not definitely an individual. Another reason for making these exceptions is
to allow for those cases in which the permissibility of abortion is compatible
with the argument of this essay. Such cases include abortion when continu-
ation of a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life and abortion when the fetus
is anencephalic. When I speak of the wrongness of abortion in this essay, a
reader should presume the above qualifications. I mean by an abortion an
action intended to bring about the death of a fetus for the sake of the woman
who carries it. (Thus, as is standard on the literature on this subject, I elimi-
nate spontaneous abortions from consideration.) I mean by a fetus a devel-
oping human being from the time of conception to the time of birth. (Thus,
as is standard, I call embryos and zygotes, fetuses.)
The argument of this essay will establish that abortion is wrong for the
same reason as killing a reader of this essay is wrong. I shall just assume,
rather than establish, that killing you is seriously wrong. I shall make no
attempt to offer a complete ethics of killing. Finally, I shall make no attempt
to resolve some very fundamental and difficult general philosophical issues
into which this analysis of the ethics of abortion might lead....Source: Don Marquis, “Why Abortion is Immoral,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 86, no. 4
(April 1989), pp. 183–202. Reprinted by permission.97364_ch19_ptg01_383-422.indd 409 11/15/13 5:45 PM
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