Organizational Information

1
Organizational Information

• Second exam
• Mean 75.6
• Reading for next time
• James Rachelss Active and Passive Euthanasia

2
Review of Thomsons A Defense of Abortion

• Thomsons goals
• To challenge some arguments for the moral
  impermissibility of abortion.
• To argue for the moral permissibility of abortion
  in a number of cases.
• The Main Argument for the Moral Impermissibility
  of Abortion
• If a fetus has a right to life, then it is
  morally impermissible to kill a fetus.
• A fetus has a right to life.
• Therefore, it is morally impermissible to kill a
  fetus. 1,2 MP

3
Review

• Thomson thinks that the reasons for accepting the
  second premise--that the fetus (any fetus) has a
  right to life--are bad ones.
• Nonetheless, she grants, for the sake of
  argument, that all fetuses do have a right to
  life.
• Thomson attacks the first premise--that if the
  fetus has a right to life, then it is morally
  impermissible to kill the fetus.

4
Abortion

• The Famous Violinist Case
• The Violinist Case is meant to establish two
  things
• Abortion in the case of rape is morally
  permissible.
• The first premise of the Main Argument for the
  Moral Impermissibility of Abortion is false.

5
Abortion

• The Extreme View
• Abortion is impermissible in all (non-rape)
  cases, even if abortion is necessary to save the
  life of the mother.
• Thomson argues against the Extreme View.

6
Abortion

• Story The Growing Baby
• Suppose you find yourself trapped in a tiny house
  with a growing child. I mean a very tiny house,
  and a rapidly growing child--you are already up
  against the wall of the house and in a few
  minutes youll be crushed to death. The child on
  the other hand wont be crushed to death if
  nothing is done to stop him from growing hell be
  hurt, but in the end hell simply burst open the
  house and walk out a free man.
• Argument Against the Extreme View
• If it is permissible for the mother to kill the
  rapidly growing baby, then the Extreme View is
  false.
• It is permissible for the mother to kill the
  rapidly growing baby.
• Therefore, the Extreme View is false. 1,2 MP

7
Abortion

• What is the justification for premise 2?
• It seems intuitive that it is morally permissible
  for the mother to kill the rapidly growing baby
  in the Growing Baby story.
• What is the justification for premise 1?
• The Growing Baby scenario seems relevantly
  analogous to the situation of a pregnant woman
  whose life is threatened by the carrying to term
  of her baby.
• So, if it is morally permissible for the woman to
  kill the rapidly growing baby in order to save
  her own life, it should be morally permissible
  for a pregnant woman to kill her fetus to save
  her own life.
• But, since if it is permissible for a pregnant
  woman to kill her fetus to save her own life, the
  Extreme View is false, it must be the case that
  if it is morally permissible for the woman to
  kill the rapidly growing baby, then it must be
  the case that the Extreme View is false.

8
Abortion

• If it is permissible for a mother to perform an
  abortion to save her own life, then the Extreme
  View is false.
• But a question remains?
• What about a third partys performing an abortion
  to save a womans life?
• The Slightly Less Extreme View
• Abortion is morally impermissible except in rape
  cases and in cases in which the mother performs
  an abortion on herself in order to save her own
  life.

9
Abortion

• Story The Coat
• The Coat Argument Against The Slightly Less
  Extreme View
• If it is morally permissible for a third party to
  take the coat away from Jones and give it to
  Smith, then the Slightly Less Extreme View is
  false.
• It is morally permissible for a third party to
  take the coat away from Jones and give it to
  Smith.
• Therefore, the Slightly Less Extreme View is
  false. 1,2 MP

10
Abortion

• What is the justification for premise 2?
• It seems intuitive that it is morally permissible
  for a third party to take the coat away from
  Jones and give it to Smith in the Coat story.
• What is the justification for premise 1?
• The Coat story seems relevantly analogous to the
  situation of a pregnant woman whose life is
  threatened by the carrying to term of her baby.
• So, if it is morally permissible for a third
  party to take the coat away from Jones and give
  it to Smith to save Smiths life, then it should
  be morally permissible for a third party to
  perform an abortion to save a pregnant womans
  life.
• But, since if it is permissible for a third party
  to perform an abortion to save a pregnant womans
  life, the Slightly Less Extreme View is false, it
  must be the case that if it is morally
  permissible for a third party to take the coat
  away from Jones and give it to Smith in the Coat
  story, then it must be the case that the Slightly
  Less Extreme View is false.

11
Abortion

• Thomson does not argue that a third party is
  morally required to perform an abortion on a
  woman in order to save her life.
• She only argues only that it is morally
  permissible for a third party to perform an
  abortion to save a womans life.

12
Abortion

• What about cases in which the mothers life is
  not at stake?
• Here it may seem that the argument against
  abortion is stronger.
• Where the mothers life is not at stake, the
  argument I mentioned at the outset seems to have
  a much stronger pull. Everyone has a right to
  life, so the unborn person has a right to life.
  And isnt the childs right to life weightier
  than anything other than the mothers own right
  to life, which she might put forward as ground
  for an abortion?

13
Abortion

• This argument treats the right to life as if it
  were unproblematic. It is not, and this seems to
  me to be precisely the source of the mistake.
• Right To Life Thesis 1
• The right to life is the right to be given the
  bare minimum one needs for continued life.
• Thomson concedes that people do have the right to
  life, but she argues against Right To Life Thesis
  1.

14
Abortion

• Story Henry Fonda
• If I am sick unto death, and the only thing that
  will save my life is the touch of Henry Fondas
  cool hand on my fevered brow, then all the same,
  I have no right to be given the touch of Henry
  Fondas cool hand on my fevered brow. It would be
  frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West
  coast to provide it. It would be less nice,
  though no doubt well meant, if my friends flew
  out to the West Coast and brought Henry Fonda
  back with them. But I have no right at all
  against anybody that he should do this for me.