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Singer's Utilitarianism

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Utilitarianism: Singer’s Double Edged Sword Abortion poses no ethical risk to humanity. Hence why there are strong supporters of abortion, such as Peter Singer. In his work, “Taking Life: The Embryo and the Fetus,” he favors of the ethics of abortion through his utilitarian views. That is, if the argument is seen through the lens of Prior Existence Utilitarianism. Undoubtedly, this is due to its counterpart: Total Utilitarianism. Notably, this type of utilitarianism undermines the argument, devolving it into an all or none situation. Meaning, if the world is overpopulated, all fetuses should be aborted. Whereas if the world is underpopulated, no abortions, let alone contraceptives, should be allowed. Therefore, Prior Existence Utilitarianism …show more content…

Essentially, to a Total Utilitarian, this means that it is ethically unsound to abort any fetus “because anyone who kills a human fetus deprives the world of a future rational and self-conscious being” (Singer 154). An abortion would equate to diminishing the maximum potential of future people. While some may agree with this point of view, there are greater ramifications from Total Utilitarianism. Rejection of modern day contraception would be commonplace, reproduction would be mandatory for all physically able, and any resources available must be geared towards generating a greater population. Consequently, “if the world is already overpopulated the argument provides no reason against abortion at all” (Singer 155). Total Utilitarian views now shift dramatically condoning all the things previously rejected. Abstinence would be celebrated, contraceptives mandated, and resources shifted to population control, i.e. abortions. Due to its ability to fluctuate between the extremes, it invalidates the argument regarding abortion in either …show more content…

As established earlier, he is in favor of abortion rejecting the first premise of the original argument. Additionally, he justifies his support of abortion with Prior Existence Utilitarian views. Once again, it is important to make that clarification since Total Utilitarian views dismantle his argument entirely. Under Total Utilitarian circumstances, the topic results in the extremes of constant reproduction or absolute population control. Overall, Singer is in favor of justifiable abortion, yet can only validate the argument through Prior Existence

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In Singer’s essay, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” the author begins by presenting the reader with the heartfelt scenario of the cost of a child vs. the cost of a new TV. Singer discusses how child trafficking with the intent of organ harvesting is the equivalent of purchasing a brand-new TV because in both cases one can improve conditions for children around the world, either by saving their life or by donating money to help them. Next, Singer goes into the narrative of a man named Bob. Bob has his entire life savings put into a precious Bugatti. However, Bob must make the choice to save his car or to flip the lever and save a child stuck on the railroad tracks.

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Patrick Lee and Robert George assert that abortion is objectively immoral. One of Lee and George’s main reason for coming to this conclusion is that human embryos are living human beings. This essentially validates that abortion is indeed the process of killing a human. Another main point said by the two is a rebuttal to a common argument used in favor of abortion, which states that a potential mother has full parental responsibilities only if she has voluntarily assumed them. The rebuttal to this was that the potential mother does indeed have special responsibilities to raise the child.

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I formulated this decision comparing my stance on why having consensual sex should result in permission of the fetus to use a woman’s body. Consensual sex isn’t a necessary act of survival like walking outside would be. Consensual sex is merely based off on wanting to experience a form of pleasure. The need for this pleasure is a weak justification to deny usage of another body when the fetus requires it. In other words, you can completely cut consensual sex out of your life with ease, and avoid the controversy over allowing permission for a fetus to grow.

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Essay On Why Abortion Is Immoral This article called “Why Abortion Is Immoral” written by Don Marquis argues and why abortion is prima facie impermissible. Marquis accesses both anti-abortion arguments and also pro-choicer’s claim to protect the legalization of abortion. My paper is going to understand and examine the the both sides arguments, and to attempt to recognize abortion is immoral.

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While pointing out that it is much easier to ignore an appeal for money to help those you’ll never meet than to consign a child to death, Singer uses his utilitarian philosophy to deflect the argument, stating that “if the upshot of the American’s failure to donate the money is that one more kid dies… then it is, in some sense, just as bad as selling the kid to the organ peddlers.” This argument, however, can only be made while using false dilemmas. Singer also addresses a large criticism of his work, that one can’t decide moral issues by taking opinion polls. The argument to this reiterates how the audience would feel being in these situations. This argument is poor as it does not address how the entire article is based on how everyone feels about this particular subject.

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Before Roe v. wade the number of deaths from illegal abortions was around 5000 and in the 50s and 60s the number of illegal abortions ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year. These illegal abortions pose major health risks to the life of the woman including damage to the bladder, intestines as well as rupturing of the uterus. The choice to become a mother must be given to the woman most importantly because it’s her body, her health, and she will be taking on a great responsibility. A woman’s choice to choose abortion should not be restricted by anyone; there are multiple reasons why abortion will be the more sensible decision for the female.

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Annotated Bibliography "Abortion ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

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Doris Gudino Professor Chounlamountry Political Science 1 27 July 2015 Pro-Choice Anyone? A woman has, undoubtedly, the freedom to procreate, but once a woman chooses to retreat from that freedom, a commotion arises. Abortion is a woman’s choice for many reasons. It’s her body, therefore, no one else can decide for said person.

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There are two sides to this debate in which individuals identify themselves as either “pro-choice” or “pro-life.” Supporters classify themselves as pro-choice, and argue “that choosing abortion is a right that should not be limited by governmental or

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VIII. Abortion is a really serious thing and should only be pondered after the persons involved have considered other alternatives such as give it to the other persons that in need of a baby as adoption. IX. I don’t believe that the abortion argument should be about rights, but about potentiality. X.

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Instead of having an abortion, women can choose a more beneficial option, such as giving the baby up for adoption. When women decide to get an abortion, they don’t think about adoption because of the long process, even though it can help other families who can’t have children. For example “It’s logical that anti-abortion organizations seeking to prevent abortions and promote traditional family structures would aggressively promote adoption, but this connection is often overlooked…”(Joyce). Many women that get pregnant with an unwanted child usually look into having an abortion first rather than going through the long process of pregnancy and giving the baby up for adoption. Furthermore, “In President Obama 's speech… he suggested that one solution to lowering abortion rates is making abortion more available”(Joyce).

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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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This argument preaches that women who have been raped have the “right” to have an abortion without being criticized. However, this is completely sentimental. If the rape victim decides to have the child anyways, there 's multiple emotional things that could wrongly affect the child. Often, a child produced from a rape will be put up for adoption, which can affect their future and attitude. In other cases,

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In Carol Gilligan 's essay, "Concepts of Self and Morality," a college student answers the question of what morality should be by stating, "The basic idea that I cling to is the sanctity of human life" (171). When a woman decides to have an abortion, she overlooks the sanctity of human life and she forgets her morals. Therefore there should not be a question of choice in the matter of

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(Tanner) Pro-choice defenders also say that it is the woman 's right to choose to have the baby or not, forgetting the baby 's rights. The life of a human being begins at the moment of conception, and it is not the fetus´s fault if the mother wasn 't ready to have a baby or if the situation in which baby was conceived wasn 't ideal. For example, if the baby is conceived by rape, the baby should not pay the consequences of other people, he or she has not done anything wrong .”Compassion for the mothers is extremely important, but it is never

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