Mary Anne Warren Abortion Summary

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Mary Anne Warren argues in the position that abortion is morally permissible because the fetus is not a person therefore has no rights and not considered immoral to be killed. I shall argue that Warren’s position is invalid with the claims made from the argument. The general argument made from Warren is (1) If a person, they have the right for life, (2) The fetus is not considered a person, and (3) Therefore, since the fetus is not a person they do not have a right for life. From the time that Warren’s article. “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion”, was published she had gotten critiques that her argument “appears to justify not only abortion, but infanticide as well.” Warren claims that if her argument is valid then infanticide is …show more content…

Even if killing a newborn infant is not murder it would not be permissible for two reason given by Warren. An infant is not a person, but “potential for becoming a person” as mentioned earlier in the article. Regardless of how individuals perceive infanticide as a form of murder the argument claims that it would be morally permissible. Although, as mentioned a person would need moral justification as to the reasoning to be killing infants since to the government and society it’s not perceived morally just. Infants are cared about from adults and can bring happiness to …show more content…

There are other people that can provide the infant with a proper home and care for it to have happiness. An infant should not be in a home or with parents that do not desire to keep it and provide necessary essentials. People in this time period are not capable of adopting a child in a short time frame and can take some time before the process takes place. “...because even if the parents do not want it and would not suffer from its destruction, there are other people who would like to have it, and would, in all probability, be deprived of a great deal of pleasure by its destruction.” According to Warren a person would most preferably pay more taxes for orphanages than for infants unwanted to be killed. Although, if this was the case would it be true that most people would pay more taxes to pay for orphanages. Most people in the country already complain about the amount of taxes they have to pay and would not want to pay more. The claim “...would prefer to pay taxes to support orphanages and state institutions for the handicapped rather than to allow unwanted infants to be killed.” is a false premise which makes her argument invalid. Although, these statements are

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