Download or read book Abortion Ethics in a Nutshell written by Matt Deaton and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hi, I'm Matt Deaton, a laid-back philosophy professor with a mild Tennessee drawl. Of all the issues I've had the pleasure to ponder, abortion remains my favorite. Maybe because I enjoy helping people see the humanity in the "other" side. Maybe because the thought experiments are especially creative. Or maybe because it's where I can do the most to ease political tensions and strengthen civic friendship. Download the first chapter to sample my style. But as far as I can tell, the traditional pro-this vs. pro-that paradigm is a grossly oversimplified myth. Designed by politicians and media types who profit from our division, we're taught to look at those who disagree with us as not only stupid, but evil. The result: we watch, spend and vote in ways that benefit them, yet harm us, splintering houses of worship, friendships and our polity itself. The (partial) solution: an honest, sober look at some of the best arguments professional ethicists have offered, and an earnest invitation to think through the issue anew, focused on win-wins and principled reconciliation. As every honest person admits, abortion is too complicated for one favored "right" to override all other concerns. Rather, several morally legitimate claims are in need of examination and balance, including the interests of the mother, the value of the potential person growing within her, the resulting child's expected quality of life, the father's autonomy, and even the impact on extended family and possibly society at large. This becomes apparent via a simple yet illuminating exercise in Chapter Four: "Rate That Abortion." One bit of hope: artificial wombs may someday solve the traditional tension, simultaneously enabling choice and life. As ethicists Peter Singer and Deanne Wells put it, "Abortions would in effect become early births," enabling sworn enemies from the decades-long abortion wars to "embrace in happy harmony." But would such a medical miracle cause more problems than it eases? Find out. And enrich your own view with the power of some of the best arguments moral thinkers have had to offer, summarized and narrated by a laid-back Tennessee philosopher. Cheers, Matt (MattDeaton.com)
Download or read book Ethics in a Nutshell written by Matt Deaton and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring YouTube lectures by the author on each chapter, a concise introduction to ethics by professor Matt Deaton.
Download or read book The Moral Case for Abortion written by Ann Furedi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thought-provoking book sets out the ethical arguments for a woman’s right to choose. Drawing on the traditions of sociological thinking and moral philosophy, it maintains that there is a strong moral case for recognizing autonomy in personal decision-making about reproductive intentions. More than this, it argues that to prevent a woman from making her own choice to continue or end her pregnancy is to undermine the essence of her humanity. The author, a provider of abortion services in the UK, asserts that true respect for human life and true regard for individual conscience demand that we respect a woman’s right to decide, and that support for a woman’s right to a termination has moral foundations and ethical integrity. This fresh perspective on abortion will interest both pro- and anti-choice individuals and organizations, along with academics in the fields of gender studies, philosophy, ethics and religion.
Download or read book The Ethics of Abortion written by Christopher Kaczor and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appealing to reason rather than religious belief, this book is the most comprehensive case against the choice of abortion yet published. The Ethics of Abortion critically evaluates all the major grounds for denying fetal personhood, including the views of those who defend not only abortion but also infanticide. It also provides several (non-theological) justifications for the conclusion that all human beings, including those in utero, should be respected as persons. This book also critiques the view that abortion is not wrong even if the human fetus is a person. The Ethics of Abortion examines hard cases for those who are prolife, such as abortion in cases of rape or in order to save the motherâe(tm)s life, as well as hard cases for defenders of abortion, such as sex selection abortion and the rationale for being âeoepersonally opposedâe but publically supportive of abortion. It concludes with a discussion of whether artificial wombs might end the abortion debate. Answering the arguments of defenders of abortion, this book provides reasoned justification for the view that all intentional abortions are morally wrong and that doctors and nurses who object to abortion should not be forced to act against their consciences.
Download or read book Beating Hearts written by Sherry F. Colb and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can someone who condemns hunting, animal farming, and animal experimentation also favor legal abortion, which is the deliberate destruction of a human fetus? The authors of Beating Hearts aim to reconcile this apparent conflict and examine the surprisingly similar strategic and tactical questions faced by activists in the pro-life and animal rights movements. Beating Hearts maintains that sentience, or the ability to have subjective experiences, grounds a being's entitlement to moral concern. The authors argue that nearly all human exploitation of animals is unjustified. Early abortions do not contradict the sentience principle because they precede fetal sentience, and Beating Hearts explains why the mere potential for sentience does not create moral entitlements. Late abortions do raise serious moral questions, but forcing a woman to carry a child to term is problematic as a form of gender-based exploitation. These ethical explorations lead to a wider discussion of the strategies deployed by the pro-life and animal rights movements. Should legal reforms precede or follow attitudinal changes? Do gory images win over or alienate supporters? Is violence ever principled? By probing the connections between debates about abortion and animal rights, Beating Hearts uses each highly contested set of questions to shed light on the other.
Download or read book The Ethics of Pregnancy Abortion and Childbirth written by Helen Watt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-08 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ethics of Pregnancy, Abortion and Childbirth addresses the unique moral questions raised by pregnancy and its intimate bodily nature. From assisted reproduction to abortion and ‘vital conflict’ resolution to more everyday concerns of the pregnant woman, this book argues for pregnancy as a close human relationship with the woman as guardian or custodian. Four approaches to pregnancy are explored: ‘uni-personal’, ‘neighborly’, ‘maternal’ and ‘spousal’. The author challenges not only the view that there is only one moral subject to consider in pregnancy, but also the idea that the location of the fetus lacks all inherent, unique significance. It is argued that the pregnant woman is not a mere ‘neighbor’ or helpful stranger to the fetus but is rather already in a real familial relationship bringing real familial rights and obligations. If the status of the fetus is conclusive for at least some moral questions raised by pregnancy, so too are facts about its bodily relationship with, and presence in, the woman who supports it. This lucid, accessible and original book explores fundamental ethical issues in a rich and often neglected area of philosophy in ways of interest also to those from other disciplines.
Download or read book Abortion Rights written by Kate Greasley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents critical and forcefully argued debate between two moral philosophers, setting out strong cases on both sides of the argument.
Download or read book Scarlet A written by Katie Watson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language Although Roe v. Wade identified abortion as a constitutional right in1973, it still bears stigma--a proverbial scarlet A. Millions of Americans have participated in or benefited from an abortion, but few want to reveal that they have done so. Approximately one in five pregnancies in the US ends in abortion. Why is something so common, which has been legal so long, still a source of shame and secrecy? Why is it so regularly debated by politicians, and so seldom divulged from friend to friend? This book explores the personal stigma that prevents many from sharing their abortion experiences with friends and family in private conversation, and the structural stigma that keeps it that way. In public discussion, both proponents and opponents of abortion's legality tend to focus on extraordinary cases. This tendency keeps the national debate polarized and contentious, and keeps our focus on the cases that occur the least. Professor Katie Watson focuses instead on the cases that happen the most, which she calls "ordinary abortion." Scarlet A gives the reflective reader a more accurate impression of what the majority of American abortion practice really looks like. It explains how our silence around private experience has distorted public opinion, and how including both ordinary abortion and abortion ethics could make our public exchanges more fruitful. In Scarlet A, Watson wisely and respectfully navigates one of the most divisive topics in contemporary life. This book explains the law of abortion, challenges the toxic politics that make it a public football and private secret, offers tools for more productive private exchanges, and leads the way to a more robust public discussion of abortion ethics. Scarlet A combines storytelling and statistics to bring the story of ordinary abortion out of the shadows, painting a rich, rarely seen picture of how patients and doctors currently think and act, and ultimately inviting readers to tell their own stories and draw their own conclusions. The paperback edition includes a new preface by the author addressing new cultural developments in abortion discourse and new legal threats to reproductive rights, and updated statistics throughout.
Download or read book Defending Life written by Francis J. Beckwith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-08-13 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defending Life is arguably the most comprehensive defense of the pro-life position on abortion - morally, legally, and politically - that has ever been published in an academic monograph. It offers a detailed and critical analysis of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey as well as arguments by those who defend a Rawlsian case for abortion-choice, such as J. J. Thomson. The author defends the substance view of persons as the view with the most explanatory power. The substance view entails that the unborn is a subject of moral rights from conception. While defending this view, the author responds to the arguments of thinkers such as Boonin, Dworkin, Stretton, Ford and Brody. He also critiques Thomson's famous violinist argument and its revisions by Boonin and McDonagh. Defending Life includes chapters critiquing arguments found in popular politics and the controversy over cloning and stem cell research.
Download or read book Thinking Critically About Abortion written by Nathan Nobis and published by Open Philosophy Press. This book was released on 2019-06-19 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces readers to the many arguments and controversies concerning abortion. While it argues for ethical and legal positions on the issues, it focuses on how to think about the issues, not just what to think about them. It is an ideal resource to improve your understanding of what people think, why they think that and whether their (and your) arguments are good or bad, and why. It's ideal for classroom use, discussion groups, organizational learning, and personal reading. From the Preface To many people, abortion is an issue for which discussions and debates are frustrating and fruitless: it seems like no progress will ever be made towards any understanding, much less resolution or even compromise. Judgments like these, however, are premature because some basic techniques from critical thinking, such as carefully defining words and testing definitions, stating the full structure of arguments so each step of the reasoning can be examined, and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different explanations can help us make progress towards these goals. When emotions run high, we sometimes need to step back and use a passion for calm, cool, critical thinking. This helps us better understand the positions and arguments of people who see things differently from us, as well as our own positions and arguments. And we can use critical thinking skills help to try to figure out which positions are best, in terms of being supported by good arguments: after all, we might have much to learn from other people, sometimes that our own views should change, for the better. Here we use basic critical thinking skills to argue that abortion is typically not morally wrong. We begin with less morally-controversial claims: adults, children and babies are wrong to kill and wrong to kill, fundamentally, because they, we, are conscious, aware and have feelings. We argue that since early fetuses entirely lack these characteristics, they are not inherently wrong to kill and so most abortions are not morally wrong, since most abortions are done early in pregnancy, before consciousness and feeling develop in the fetus. Furthermore, since the right to life is not the right to someone else’s body, fetuses might not have the right to the pregnant woman’s body—which she has the right to—and so she has the right to not allow the fetus use of her body. This further justifies abortion, at least until technology allows for the removal of fetuses to other wombs. Since morally permissible actions should be legal, abortions should be legal: it is an injustice to criminalize actions that are not wrong. In the course of arguing for these claims, we: 1. discuss how to best define abortion; 2. dismiss many common “question-begging” arguments that merely assume their conclusions, instead of giving genuine reasons for them; 3. refute some often-heard “everyday arguments” about abortion, on all sides; 4. explain why the most influential philosophical arguments against abortion are unsuccessful; 5. provide some positive arguments that at least early abortions are not wrong; 6. briefly discuss the ethics and legality of later abortions, and more. This essay is not a “how to win an argument” piece or a tract or any kind of apologetics. It is not designed to help anyone “win” debates: everybody “wins” on this issue when we calmly and respectfully engage arguments with care, charity, honesty and humility. This book is merely a reasoned, systematic introduction to the issues that we hope models these skills and virtues. Its discussion should not be taken as absolute “proof” of anything: much more needs to be understood and carefully discussed—always.
Download or read book Creation and Abortion written by F. M. Kamm and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1992-07-02 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a non-consequentialist ethical theory, this book critically examines the prevalent view that if a fetus has the moral standing of a person, it has a right to life and abortion is impermissible. Most discussion of abortion has assumed that this view is correct, and so has focused on the question of the personhood of the fetus. Kamm begins by considering in detail the permissibility of killing in non-abortion cases which are similar to abortion cases. She goes on to consider the case for the permissibility of abortion in many types of pregnancies, including ones resulting from rape, voluntary pregnancy, and pregnancy resulting from a voluntary sex act, even if the fetus is considered a person. This argument emerges as part of a broader theory of creating new people responsibly. Kamm explores the implications of this argument for informed consent to abortion; responsibilities in pregnancy that is not aborted, and the significance of extra-uterine gestation devices for the permissibility of abortion.
Download or read book Ethics and Experience written by Lloyd H. Steffen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral Theory: An Introduction, by Mark Timmons-cloth, R&L 2001, $93.00, 242 pg., 206 net sales ($12,041 net revenue)-paper, R&L 2001, $29.95, 256 pg., 9548 net sales ($185,449 net revenue)Moral Wisdom: Lessons and Texts from the Catholic Tradition, by James F. Keenan, SJ-1e cloth, S&W 2004, $75.00, 208 pg., 216 net sales ($9129 net revenue)-1e paper, S&W 2004, $24.95, 208 pg., 3416 net sales ($42,207 net revenue)-2e cloth, R&L 2010, $75.00, 200 pg., 70 net sales ($4093 net revenue)-2e paper, R&L 2010, $24.95, 200 pg., 1708 net sales ($34,931 net revenue)Happiness and the Christian Moral Life: An Introduction to Christian Ethics, by Paul Wadell-1e cloth, R&L 2007, $79.00, 274 pg., 87 net sales ($4746 net revnue)-1e paper, R&L 2007, $29.95, 274 pg., 2727 net sales ($63,228 net revenue)-2e paper, R&L 2/2012, $29.95, 308 pg.
Download or read book Beyond Roe written by David Boonin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most arguments for or against abortion focus on one question: is the fetus a person? In this provocative and important book, David Boonin defends the claim that even if the fetus is a person with the same right to life you and I have, abortion should still be legal, and most current restrictions on abortion should be abolished. Beyond Roe points to a key legal precedent: McFall v. Shimp. In 1978, an ailing Robert McFall sued his cousin, David Shimp, asking the court to order Shimp to provide McFall with the bone marrow he needed. The court ruled in Shimp's favor and McFall soon died. Boonin extracts a compelling lesson from the case of McFall v. Shimp--that having a right to life does not give a person the right to use another person's body even if they need to use that person's body to go on living-and he uses this principle to support his claim that abortion should be legal and far less restricted than it currently is, regardless of whether the fetus is a person. By taking the analysis of the right to life that Judith Jarvis Thomson pioneered in a moral context and applying it in a legal context in this novel way, Boonin offers a fresh perspective that is grounded in assumptions that should be accepted by both sides of the abortion debate. Written in a lively, conversational style, and offering a case study of the value of reason in analyzing complex social issues, Beyond Roe will be of interest to students and scholars in a variety of fields, and to anyone interested in the debate over whether government should restrict or prohibit abortion.
Download or read book Beyond the Abortion Wars written by Charles C. Camosy and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The abortion debate in the United States is confused. Ratings-driven media coverage highlights extreme views and creates the illusion that we are stuck in a hopeless stalemate. In this book Charles Camosy argues that our polarized public discourse hides the fact that most Americans actually agree on the major issues at stake in abortion morality and law. Unpacking the complexity of the abortion issue, Camosy shows that placing oneself on either side of the typical polarizations -- pro-life vs. pro-choice, liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican -- only serves to further confuse the debate and limits our ability to have fruitful dialogue. Camosy then proposes a new public policy that he believes is consistent with the beliefs of the broad majority of Americans and supported by the best ideas and arguments about abortion from both secular and religious sources.
Download or read book Our Right to Choose written by Beverly Wildung Harrison and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2011-11-07 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Endorsements: Wipf and Stock is to be congratulated for making Beverly Wildung Harrison's Our Right to Choose newly available. Recognized as a classic in its field from its publication in 1983, Our Right to Choose is as compelling--and needed--today as it was then. - Nyla Rasmussen, RN, Maternal Child Health Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City ""This historic book is as incisive, pertinent, timely and morally compelling as it was twenty-eight years ago. Harrison has both ethical purchase and feminist vision on 'The Issue of Our Age.' Read it, learn, be convicted and act!"" - Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, President of Union Theological Seminary ""Decades after its initial publication, Beverly Wildung Harrison's sex-positive, justice and social welfare affirming study of abortion remains a unique and trailblazing contribution to the field of Christian ethics. From the treatment of women's procreation in the history of Western Christianity to the rhetoric of 1970s abortion politics, she offers meticulous critiques and constructive feminist Christian ideas sorely needed in today's debates about abortion rights."" Traci C. West, author of Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women's Lives Matter About the Contributor(s): Two years after Our Right to Choose appeared in 1983, the world of Christian ethics was again impacted by Beverly Wildung Harrison's second groundbreaking book, Making the Connections: Essays in Feminist Social Ethics, edited by Carol S. Robb (Beacon: 1985). Over the next fifteen years, until retiring in 1999 as the Carolyn Williams Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics at New York's Union Theological Seminary, Harrison continued to teach and shape a methodology in feminist social ethics which attracted scores of graduate students, both men and women, who currently occupy professorships in ethics throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world. Her former students also include pastors in the United States and Europe and around the globe in countries as diverse as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, and Korea. Since her retirement, Beverly Harrison has continued to consult with former and current graduate students. In 2004, six of her former students worked with Harrison in publishing a commentary on her methodology, Justice in the Making: Feminist Social Ethics (Westminster/John Knox Press). Since 1999, Beverly Harrison has lived in an intentional community in the mountains of western North Carolina where, along with her longtime companion Carter Heyward and several other friends, she continues to work for justice in every venue possible, including active involvement in the Democratic Party and in movements for racial, economic, sexual, and gender justice. She has been particularly devoted to pro-choice work and LGBT justice efforts in the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches and in society at large. Harrison delights in the companionship of several dogs, cats, and horses!
Download or read book A Critical Introduction to the Ethics of Abortion written by Bernie Cantens and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-07 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Critical Introduction to the Ethics of Abortion addresses some of the most prominent and influential arguments to the abortion debate. These include the Being a Person verses Functioning as a Person Argument, women's rights vis-à-vis the rights of the foetus, personhood as an essentially contested concept, and a virtue ethics approach. Also covered are central bioethical issues concerning prenatal screening, stem cell research and cloning. Based on a critical assessment of the evidence, the book offers an impartial view and draws on the importance of critical thinking and the logic of argumentation. Providing an overview of the legal history of abortion in the United States, it discusses five of the most influential Supreme Court cases on abortion law during the past fifty years and examines the current state of abortion law, politics and the main trends. Presenting a balance between ethical concepts, views and arguments, A Critical Introduction to the Ethics of Abortion is an up-to-date introduction to the choice of abortion illustrating the importance of evidence, clear thinking and good arguments for supporting one's ethical beliefs.
Download or read book Abortion and Unborn Human Life Second Edition written by Patrick Lee and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patrick Lee surveys the main philosophical arguments in favor of the moral permissibility of abortion and refutes them point by point. In a calm and philosophically sophisticated manner, he presents a powerful case for the pro-life position and a serious challenge to all of the main philosophical arguments on behalf of the pro-choice position.
