Abortion and the Concept of a Person

Caroline Sullivan

Caroline Sullivan
Dr. Izrailevsky
Ethics
11/24/14

Abortion and the Concept of a Person

Some people make exceptions for abortion in the case of rape because
of the unfortunate circumstances that brought the fetus into being. However
the problem with this logic is that it follows that some fetuses have less of a
right to life than other fetuses. And this highlights a point of hypocrisy in the
pro-life ideology; that not all fetuses are equal. It is like what Angela Davis
said with the history of forced sterilizations in the US- some people think that
the others have less a right to life than some. This inconsistency shows us
that a large population in the pro-life group doesnt value a fetus in of itself.
They value what they choose to value and making exceptions for abortions

for some fetuses undermines their foundation of the idea that the fetus is
innocent and deserves the right to life.
Another important question is the mothers right to life; does the
mother not have an equal right to life? I once debated a fellow who said that
the fetus is full of potential and possibility and an abortion would be robbing
the world of what might be. But what are the odds that the fetus, given the
correct environmental and societal factors, blossom into a great genius or a
contributor to society at large in any way? Plus in the case that carrying the
fetus to term means sacrificing the mothers life, which means a live devoid of
a prominent figure in ones own development and the knowledge that she
sacrificed herself for you. This in of itself carries associated guilt and
behavioral problems. Besides all this, the mother is a currently living,
breathing human who has a life and those around her that love and care for
her. The fetuss absence from the world is no absence at all, since the fetus
does not have life ties or commitments. An abortion, similar to a miscarriage,
is not the same as a mother who loses a child. The woman who loses a child
has an actual person to mourn; a person who had a life. The woman who
miscarries has no actual person to mourn, only the loss of what might have
been. The failure to get all the way to a birth in the family is not the same as a
death in the family. (Blackburn, 56). The same logic follows with abortion
and the fact that an existing life outweighs something that does not yet exist.

A Kantian approach to abortion would be to unconditionally fulfill your

duty, i.e., to carry a baby to term no matter the consequences. These
deontological demands are unrealistic and unnecessary in this modern
climate. A better stance on abortion would be a more gradualist approach.
After all, nature is a gradual process; there are no naturally clear-cut lines by
which to adhere to.
People talk so often about the right to life, yet shouldnt the
conversation be about the quality of life the child has? Morally speaking,
every child should have a right to a decent life but unfortunately we as a
society, let alone us as individuals, cannot always provide one. Ought we to
focus more on providing decent lives for the children that we can support?

External reference:
Ethics: A Very Short Introduction Paperback Simon Blackburn. Oxford
University Press (September 14, 2009)