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Abortion: Don Marquis And Judith Jarvis Thomson

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Abortion is a controversial topic, which can stir up feelings on each side of the debate. Those who support abortion argue that it’s a woman’s choice of what to do with their body. Those who are against abortion argue that all life is sacred and that it should never be taken under any circumstance. In this paper, I will discuss Don Marquis and Judith Jarvis Thomson and their views on abortion.
In his article titled “Why Abortion is Immoral,” Don Marquis argues that the sustenance of human life is a moral obligation that every individual should uphold. He states that abortion is immoral, except in rare cases, and that it is the same as killing an innocent person (RT, 99). Marquis demonstrates that abortion is the same as killing an adult. Marquis comes up with a new strategy to identify what makes killing wrong. He states that first, one must identify why killing a human is wrong and then applying that response to abortion (RT, 101). According to Marquis, what makes killing wrong is killing a being with a right to life and a right to have a future like ours (RT, 102 - 103), one can apply this to killing a fetus. By killing a fetus, one is depriving the fetus of enjoying and having a future; it deprives the victim of everything they could have done if his/her life wasn’t ended. His/her life would have …show more content…

When the fetus is killed, it is deprived of everything it will eventually come to value in life (RT, 102). As Marquis points out, what makes killing wrong, is the

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Don Marquis’s purpose to his essay is to set out to prove that abortion is seriously wrong. He is addressing that abortion is morally wrong and should not be permitted except in certain cases. The authors thesis is “Abortion, except perhaps in rare instances, is seriously wrong”(Marquis, 754). Marquis’s purpose for exceptions or rare instances is to eliminate those instances that could be considered ethically controversial such as cases like abortion after rape or abortion during the first fourteen days after conception. Marquis provides another exception in the form of a pregnancy that could endanger a woman’s life and abortion when the fetus is anencephalic.

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According to the journal Why Abortion is Immoral of Don Marquis, a philosophy professor at Kansas University, he stated that “he tries to show that aborting a fetus is, except in exceptional circumstances, a serious moral wrong.” In fact, killing is not accepted in the society. specially to kill potential human being who has a valuable ability like ours. Although the fetus is not considered as human being and it also have a spirit and sacred, the fetus will be a human being after nine months and ten days, therefore no one could destroy another person’s

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This, according to Marquis, applies to abortion as well. He stated that the reason why murder is an issue is because "The loss of one's life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one's future. " The way I see it, this is not the best explanation regarding why murder is wrong*. Even if it was the perfect explanation, it doesn't seem to help Marquis' argument as this doesn't apply properly to fetuses.

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Don Marquis, on the other side of the abortion debate begins his essay “Why abortion is immoral” through the frustration of little support being given to the thought. This essay was written to show the falsified belief that an anti-abortion stance is nothing other than irrational religious dogma or a conclusion generated by a seriously confused philosophical argument. The argument is set forth throughout that abortion is, except in rare cases, seriously immoral. This essay sets forth the belief that abortion is in the same category as killing an innocent adult human being. Don Marquis argues with rare exceptions such as a life-threatening pregnancy, all cases of abortion are seriously wrong and are not much different than killing an adult

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He also describes the morality of killing and concludes that the act of abortion is comparable to the act of killing a fully grown, adult human being that is a part of the moral community. This claim leads to the overarching view that because the act of killing an adult person is morally wrong, abortion is ultimately morally impermissible as well. Throughout his argument, Marquis builds to his overall conclusion that abortion is morally impermissible because the act of killing is morally wrong. He places the same moral standing of a fully developed, adult human being on fetuses, stating that aborting a fetus withdraws its potential to have valuable future experiences, projects, and enjoyments. However, Marquis’s argument does not provide any reasoning on behalf of the mother’s potential future after the fetus is developed and born, and does not allow any clarification on the true personhood held by the fetus compared to the mother’s already fully developed

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A second reason why abortion is wrong is because it deprives the fetus from his future. When we decide to kill a fetus then we are taking away from him a future like ours. The argument is as follows : (1) it is impermissible to kill humans, who if lived, would have a future like ours, (2) if abortion is not done, the fetus would have future as we do have, (3) so it is wrong to kill the fetus (4) therefore abortion is impermissible. A similar argument was given by Don Marquis in his article “Why Abortion is Immoral”. He stated that what makes killing wrong is neither the effect on the murder, nor the effect on the victim’s relatives or friends, but the effect is on the victim himself.

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