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  • Essay / Is abortion morally permitted or not? - 1311

    The following essay will examine the morality of abortion with specific reference to the writings of Don Marquis, Judith Jarvis Thompson, Peter Singer, and Mary Anne Warren. I will begin by assessing the strength of Marquis's argument that abortion is prohibited because it deprives one of a "potential future like ours," and then examine the writings of Singer, Thomson, and Warren to both refute abortion. Marquis affirms and supports my contention that abortion is morally permissible, primarily because of the threat to women's freedom and bodily autonomy that would be posed by extending the right to life to a fetus in utero. To fully understand the argument, we must first define the parameters of the debate and the key ideas held by each side. Throughout this essay, I will use the terms conservative and liberal as defined by Singer (p. 125) to refer to one or the other side of the debate. The argument generally focuses on whether or not the fetus is considered a person—a complex, self-aware being with future-oriented preferences (Study Guide, p. 20)— supporters on the conservative side generally hold that a fetus is a person, or at least a potential person, and therefore equate abortion with murder, while liberals tend to refute the proposed personhood of the fetus. Both Singer and Warren agree that human development is a gradual process and that it is impossible to determine precisely the stage at which personality is reached (Singer, p. 129, Study Guide, p. 187), but he is clear, at least, that this occurs somewhere in infancy, and while in utero the fetus qualifies as merely being conscious (Singer, p. 136). Although I personally agree that a fetus is in no way a person and does not possess any...... middle of paper ...... life and potential are a concept too fragile to be relevant and therefore in this essay, however To avoid repeating the same argument, I decided to examine another aspect of the question by moving away from the fetus and placing it on the woman, whose personhood and the right to life and bodily autonomy are not at all debatable or worthy of debate. In doing so, it becomes clear that granting legal personality to a fetus cannot be done without seriously infringing on women's rights. Abortion is therefore morally permissible and should be readily available to women who are not seeking to take responsibility for a pregnancy. or fulfill the role of mother, because a woman's right to her own body takes precedence over that of another being, and it would be immoral to deny her this because of the consequences that would arise from treating the fetus as d 'an equal person..