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Why Don Marquis's Essay 'Why Abortion Is Immoral'

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There are many angles and nuances surrounding the topic of abortion and its morality. Abortion has been a topic of discussion in the United States that has polarized the nation and the two-party system. There are many factors that each side uses to support their argument on the morality of abortion. Who has a right to life? Does the right to life supersede bodily autonomy? Does life begin at conception? All of these questions are philosophical and biological matters that have no objective answer. This creates conflicts of interest from within the government, as each party must have contrary stances. Don Marquis’ paper, titled “Why Abortion is Immoral,” focuses on the moral status of the fetus and makes the assumption that the fetus has a future-like-ours, …show more content…

He focuses not on the harm or pain inflicted on the fetus but rather on the deprivation of future experiences and life is what makes abortion morally impermissible. Furthermore, Marquis suggests that aborting a fetus is equivalent to killing a grown human being, due to the loss of a potential future. Two counterarguments that Marquis addresses are the discontinuation account and the desired account. The discontinuation account refers to the wrongful death of a person derived from depriving the continuation of experiences, not the future experiences (195). Marquis attempts to counter this argument by expressing this view as inadequate if it does not refer to the “value of the experience that may be discontinued” (1977). Moreover, he provides a scenario in which a person who is enduring pain wants to be euthanized. Is it permissible to take this person’s life for granted, even though they still have a future? These scenarios are not analogous enough to compare the discontinuation account. Marquis’ focus on the future blinds him from seeing the quality of life in the immediate past. One could argue that the fetus never had a past and, hence, cannot be deprived of a …show more content…

However, potential value is likewise to potential future, it is arbitrary and subjective. Marquis seeks to assert his opinion that possible value is equivalent to existing value. Moreover, he brings up continuity of identity as a factor to consider regarding the development of a fetus to a potential person. Consciousness should be a marker of value. It takes around 24 weeks for a fetus to develop consciousness, and less than one percent of abortions are performed after this time period. Aborting a fetus before the 24-week period does not deprive it of intrinsic values if the fetus is not even conscious. Intrinsic value should be linked to viability when the fetus becomes sentient and aware. A person cannot strip away intrinsic values from a potential consciousness. Lastly, Marquis explores the wrongfulness of killing as a universal concept “It is always prima facie wrong to take a human life” (185). He does not take into account other killings that happen in war and self-defense that are deemed permissible under the proper circumstances. Does a fetus’ right to life surpass the right to life of a person? Marquis argues that under little circumstances is it moral to abort a fetus or a

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In the unit, Mary Anne Warren and Don Marquis present two different opinions about abortion. Mary Anne Warren believes that abortion should be morally permissible. Although she agrees that it is immoral to kill a person, she thinks that fetus is not a person because it does not meet the six traits of personhood (LaFollette, 2014). On the other hand, Don Marquis is against abortion because he thinks that killing a fetus deprives it of “a future like ours” (LaFollette, 2014). For my part, I think Don Marquis makes a stronger case for his opinion.

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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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Marquis takes his contention at an alternate edge. While most will contend whether a fetus is a person or not, Marquis argues the wrongness of killing. Marquis main principle is that what makes abortion wrong is its immediate results on the casualty, or that the executing denies the casualty of an important future, this Is acknowledged except for uncommon cases. The creators proposition is "abortion, aside from uncommon occurrences, is truly wrong". Marquis' motivation for exemptions or uncommon cases is to wipe out those cases that could be considered morally questionable, for example, cases like fetus removal after assault or abortion amid the initial fourteen days after conception.

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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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Written Assignment #6 In Judith Jarvis Thompson’s article, A Defense of Abortion, where Thompson discusses argues that abortion is not always permissible, but permissible in certain circumstances; such as, the abortion is done attempt to save the mother’s life and in cases of rape. However, I do not believe provides a solid enough argument in stating that abortion is immoral in nearly all circumstances. In this argument, Thompson takes on the perceptive that the fetus is a living person.

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Even today, there are many moral and philosophical issues that divide the United States because they create very polarized opinions and beliefs. One such philosophical issue is the moral permissibility of infanticide. Mary Anne Warren, a philosopher, presents her liberal yet controversial views on the issue of infanticide in the postscript of her article, On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion. However, the anti-infanticide arguments pose problems for Warren’s position because they justify the immorality of infanticide through the physical similarity in resemblance of neonates to human beings. These arguments also claim that the destruction of a viable infant is needless because even if the infant’s biological parents reject the infant, there are many other parents who are willing to adopt and nurture that infant.

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Marquis’ argument on abortion solely rests on the claim that the fetus is a person and therefore has a right to live. Thomson, on the other hand, tries to convey the point that this type of argument against abortion is an inadequate account of the morality of abortion. To begin with, Thomson explains her points through a series of thought experiments that she used as analogies to different situations where a woman could be pregnant but wishes to terminate her pregnancy. Thomson’s analogies are unique because she does not mention the personhood-factor—argument on which antiabortion is entirely based. Even though throughout her arguments she never does agree that a fetus is in fact a person, she still grants the probability that they are a person and

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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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Conclusion: Therefore, terminating a fetus through abortion is impermissible (Marquis, pg.7). Marquis defends Premise 1 by providing a couple of examples. Part 2: Does the future of value

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Anthony Miller Dr. Shane Duarte Philosophy University Seminar March 23, 2024 The Permissibility of Abortion I, Anthony Miller, did not use any sort of AI to write this paper. In Don Marquis’s paper, “Why Abortion is Immoral,” he carefully explains why he considers abortion to be wrong and morally impermissible. His first claim is that if we believe that killing an adult is impermissible, then we have no way to prove that killing a fetus is permissible. Marquis claims that killing a fetus is seriously wrong and is only considered permissible in a few circumstances.

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In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Thomson argues with a unique approach regarding the topic of abortion. For the purpose of the argument, Thomas agrees to go against her belief and constructs an argument based on the idea that the fetus is a person at conception. She then formulates her arguments concerning that the right to life is not an absolute right. There are certain situations where abortion is morally permissible. She believes that the fetus’s right to life does not outweigh the right for the woman to control what happens to her own body.

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As humans, we are given different rights that are meant to provide us with a chance at a good life. However, these rights can become compromised when it comes to conflicts between a pregnant woman and her fetus. The right of the fetus to live is seen as inferior to the right of the mother to have an abortion. Although each of the rights is different, it is not appropriate to say that one citizen’s rights are more superior than another citizen’s rights.

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Overall, he has a good point, in which makes me believe that his argument succeeds as it is morally impermissible to abort a fetus. Life is all about obtaining memories and experiencing the real thrills of what life has to offer. Marquis sums it up well when he says, “The goods of life are whatever we get out of life. The goods of life are those items toward which we take a “pro” attitude. They are completed projects of which we are proud, the pursuit of our goals, aesthetic enjoyments, friendships, intellectual pursuits, and physical pleasures of various sorts.

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He argues that, if one does not regard a fertilized egg as a human person, it is difficult to provide a convincing case for the idea that all stages of development of a fertilized egg, from being conceived to birth, are human persons deserving of full moral

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The debate whether abortion is morally permissible or not permissible is commonly discussed between the considerations of the status of a fetus and ones virtue theory. A widely recognized theory of pro-choice advocates can be thought to be that their ethical view is that fetus’s merely are not humans because they lack the right to life since they believe a fetus does not obtain any sort of mental functions or capability of feelings. Although this may be true in some cases it is not in all so explaining the wrongness of killing, between the common debates whether a fetus does or does not obtain human hood, should be illustrated in a way of a virtuous theory. The wrongness of killing is explained by what the person or fetus is deprived of, such as their right to life; not by means of a heart beat or function of one’s body, but by the fact that it takes their ability of potentially growing into a person to have the same human characteristics as we do.

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