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Abortion By age 45, 1 out of every 2.5 women in the United States has
had at least one abortion.
http://www.afterabortion.com/ |
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Learning objectives:
Definitions: What is an abortion? An abortion is the premature termination of a pregnancy (prior to birth).
What are the
classifications of abortion? A spontaneous abortion, commonly called a miscarriage occurs because something went wrong with either the placenta or the normal growth of the baby, leading to either premature birth or the death of the child in the womb. An Induced abortion is the willful and forced expulsion of the fetus or embryo from the womb. Elective vs. therapeutic abortion If a womb is capable of
carrying the child at least to viability, the induced abortion is
called elective. Therapeutic: If the womb can in no way do this, and both the mother and the fetal child will die in a short time if the child is not expelled from the womb, the induced abortion can properly be called therapeutic, and is not directed intentionally toward fetal death as either an end or a means
What are common reasons given for abortions?
Biology Class
An important question: When does life begin?
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Does a woman have absolute right over her own body at
any stage of pregnancy? What is the key moral problem of abortion?
What are the three broadly identifiable positions on abortion?
Background Information on Abortion & Contraception As mentioned above, abortion was pronounced legal in 73. What did early feminists have to say regarding abortion? 1960's: the mood began to change. In 1965 Griswold vs. the State of Connecticut: (right to
privacy - contraception) The charge was giving information, instruction and medical advice to
married persons as to the means of preventing conception Additionally
women were examined and
contraceptives were prescribed.. The appellants were found guilty as accessories and fined $100 each. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Connecticut's birth-control law unconstitutionally intruded upon the right of marital privacy. Between l965 & 1975 the abortion rate doubled. Between 1967 and 1970 12 states repealed their restrictive abortion laws In 1969 Planned Parenthood pushed strong for the repeal of antiabortion laws. In 1970 the AMA voted to support a physician's right to perform abortions if a woman's social or economic conditions would make it difficult to have a baby. 1973 Row v. Wade: The Supreme Court ruled that Texas's antiabortion law violated a woman's right to privacy. It appealed to the 14th amendment. it said the fetus is NOT a person according to the fourteenth amendment (U.S. Constitution and amendments) ============================================================== The Pill Many individuals today take contraception and abortion for granted - as if these options were always around. Until 1930 every Christian church said contraception is wrong. Anglican church approved it in marriage for serious reasons
A little history: Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood probably fought harder and spent a fortune promotion the pill. Many denounced her as a eugenicist & many hailed her as a champion of women's freedom.
In March 1914 Sanger founded a newspaper called, the Woman Rebel. Its purpose was to free women from bourgeois morality, wage slavery & superstitions. The Postmaster banned it because the Comstock Law banned the mailing of information on contraception. Sanger fled the country, leaving her husband and children behind to avoid jail
In the 1950's Americans spent $200 million on
condoms.
In 1957 the FDA approved the Pill (Syntex-Parke-Davis drug, Norlutin) - not for contraception, but for "menstrual disorders) On May 11, 1960 the Pill was formally approved.
Humanae Vitae, Encyclical of Pope Paul VI
In 1972 Massachusetts was the last state to repeal contraception laws: "While it was not illegal to use contraceptives, Massachusetts law made it a felon to 'exhibit, sell, prescribe, provide, or give out information about them.'" (Asbell) - ============================================================== Religious Views on Abortion Although pro-life is often labeled as the
"religious" position, religious views differ. In Hinduism, the killing of a conscious fetus carries the same penalty as the murder of a learned Brahman. Orthodox Jews see life as sacred, thus abortion is prohibited except to save the life of the mother. Liberal Jews say Adam did not become fully human until God breathed life into him, so the baby does not become a person with a soul until it takes the first breath of air; therefore, abortion is permissible. Catholics have had a strong tradition of opposing abortion as life is sacred from conception to death. Conception is the instant at which the sperm from the father meets the ovum of the mother. God makes a new creation by providing the soul at this time. John Calvin (1509-1564) and Martin Luther (1483-1546) opposed abortion, believing that one is fully human from the moment of conception. Modern Protestants hold varying views. Most mainstream Protestant churches take a moderate view. ================= Pope John Paul had another book published in March 2005, Memory and Identity. He addresses the "what is legal is moral" mentality. What is relevant to our abortion discussion is the Pope's calls abortion "legal extermination" - analogous to wiping out the Jews during WWI. The pope
writes that six million Jews were annihilated because people were
usurping the "law of God" under the guise of democracy." It was a legally
elected parliament which allowed for the election of Hitler in Germany
in the 1930s." Holocaust refers to the extermination of 6 million Jews. Hitler referred to Jews as the equivalent of "a parasite in the body of other nations (Mein Kampf). The preborn is referred to as "a parasite" in the woman's body Gitta Sereny, writes that Christian Wirth referred to the Jews at Treblinka as "this garbage" Dr. William Brennan writes that the Nazis avoided the world kill: "According to their sugar-coated rhetoric, people were merely "removed" from ghettoes and "evacuated" to "the East" for "special treatment" in the "wash and disinfectant rooms" of "labor,", "concentration" or "resettlement camps....A sign at the entrance to Auschwitz [reads] "Labor Makes You Free."" (An Abortion Holocaust: Today's Final Solution, Landmark Press, 1983) Both Jews and preborns are considered less-than-human The unborn are put to death in the uterine walls; the Jews were put to death in gas chamber walls. The plight of the victims is hidden. Jews walked to their
death through doors marked "showerbath" (Brausebad) instead
of gas chamber. Ernst Fraenkel writes in "The Duel State that the German Supreme Court in 1936 "refused to recognize Jews living in Germany as 'persons' in the legal sense." Analogously, Roe vs. Wade decided the word 'person' does not include the unborn. Defendants in the Nuremberg War Crime Trials denied personal responsibility, as they were following the law. This was a legal matter and not a moral matter.
Implications of Reproductive Technology Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) accounts for 1 to 3% of annual births in Western countries. "Recent studies have found that a congenital abnormality named Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome occurs at a 4.2-fold increase in ART babies compared with babies who are born naturally....Could there be an acceptable level of risk for fetuses born via ART?" (Nursing Ethics pages 79-880 Does the risk of a deformed child, or the risk of selective reduction (when too many ovum "take" in the uterus) promote abortion? Are these acceptable risks?
Connecticut State Law: Section 53a-59c: "Assault of a pregnant woman resulting in termination of pregnancy: Class A felony. (a) A person is guilty of assault of a pregnant woman resulting in termination of pregnancy when such person commits assault in the first degree as provided under subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 53a-59 and (1) the victim of such assault is pregnant, and (2) such assault results in the termination of pregnancy that does not result in a live birth. State Connecticut General Assembly site at http://www.cga.ct.gov/
The above law came into effect after Michael Latour killed
Jenny McMechen on New Year's Eve 2001. She was 9 months pregnant. Latour
was sentenced to llife in prison "which in Connecticut is 60 years plus
ten more for firearm charges" (www.WTNH.com/global/story.asps=1707979$clienttype=printable Abortion law Homepage Purpose: "This page is being constructed to help people, regardless of their political bent, understand the background and state of abortion law in America, and access related legal material--especially that which is less available and less well known" It contains links to the following: Abortion Methods & risks for each method http://www.jcu.edu/studentl/Student%20Activities/Student%20Organizations/RTL/tech.htm California Abortion & Reproductive Rights League - McCorvey, Norma of Roe vs. Wade
Post Abortion Stress Myth from MS Magazine Post Abortion Stress Vignettes Post Abortion statistics from The Elliott Institute http://www.afterabortion.com/ statistics from CDC http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarry.htm summary & illustrations of types of abortions
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| Info for future lectures
National Center for Health Statistics - get quick facts In April 2004, President Bush (R) signed into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. This bill that makes it a crime to injure or kill a fetus during the commission of a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman.
Consider this: A survey conducted by a Rape Crisis Center of Jr. High students, found 65% boys and 50% girls considered it acceptable for a man to force a woman to have relations with him if they have been dating for 6 months.
Another survey showed 1/3 of all pregnancies in the US end up with the unborn baby being destroyed by abortion. 1.3 million/yr. From Deacon Hayes Homily Jan 2005
For discussion : Saint or fool: "If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation: choose - and I demand it - the baby, save him. St. Gianna Berreta Molla (she died)
The average teen sees 9,000 sexual acts per year on television (EWTN Jan 2005)
Court Cases
Stenberg v. Carhart June 28, 2000 The Supreme Court struck down a Nebraska law that banned partial-birth abortion. The court ruled the Nebraska law placed an "undue burden" on women since it failed to include an exception in which the health of the pregnant woman was at risk.
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READINGS__________________________________
| Summary of Readings | |||
| John Noonan Absolute Value |
The fetus is a person Distinctions, such as quickening, embryo, fetus are unsound & arbitrary |
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| Judith Thomson
Defense of Abortion |
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| Mary Warren
Moral & Legal Status |
Women have a fundamental right over their bodies. A fetus/baby is not a "person" until it experiences:
Warren added a postscript after publication saying she does not support mass infanticide. |
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| Rosalind Hursthouse | Would a virtuous person have an abortion
in this case? Being a parent enhances one's life (flourishing eudaimonia) |
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| An Almost Absolute Value in History
- John T. Noonan Professor of law at the University of California in Berkeley. |
Noonan's 1970 article is also a classic & like Thomson begins with the presumption that the fetus is a person with moral standing.
Unlike Thomson, Noonan concludes that abortion is rarely, if ever, morally justified.
Noonan assigns full ontological status at the
moment of conception.
Anyone conceived by human parents is human.
We have moral value simply because we have a human genotype.
Noonan claims distinctions like quickening, viability are unsound &
arbitrary. Even after a baby is born it is still dependent on the mother
for survival.
Noonan speaks of abortion in terms of probabilities: When shooting in a forest, if the chance is 200,000,000 to 1 that movement in the bushes in a man's, then you would probably not be charged with careless shooting. But if chances are 4 in 5, few would acquit you of blame. At conception a new being receives its genetic code & chances for livelihood are high (pages 182-183.
| A Defense of Abortion By Judith
Thomson Professor of philosophy AT Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
This article was published 2 years before Roe v. Wade & has become a classic.
Judith concedes for the sake of argument that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception, & asks, "Is abortion necessarily wrong - assuming the fetus is a person? Sometimes
Even if the fetus has a right to life, this does NOT include the right to whatever it needs, including a woman's body.
We do not have responsibility for an individual unless we "assume it."
Judith does argue, however for the "Minimally Decent Samaritanism" standard - where something isn't overly inconveniencing, it should be done.
Thomson claims that even if the fetus has a right to life, this does not entail the right to whatever one needs, including the use of a woman's body.
However, she ends her essay saying, " A very early abortion is surely not the killing of a person, and so is not dealt with by anything I have said here."
Thomson is known for her violinist analogy. A woman's bloodstream had been hooked up to a famous violinist in order to save his life.
Judith does argue, however for the "Minimally Decent Samaritanism" standard - When something isn't overly inconveniencing, it should be done. - so if one needed to be hooked up for 9 months or 9 years, one shouldn't be obligated so remain hooked up. But if saving the violinist would only require a one-hour hook-up, then the woman "ought" to comply - even though the violinist does not have a "strict right" to use your kidney/bloodstream.
Similarly, if it is minimally inconvenient to carry to term, "this is a standard we must not fall below."
She speaks of a box of chocolates given entirely to one brother. If he does not share, he is stingy, greedy & callous, but not unjust.. The same with the woman who does not want to share her body with the violinist for one hour
When would it be indecent to have an abortion?
"If she is in her seventh month and wants the abortion to avoid the
nuisance of postponing a trip abroad."
Does one have the right to do anything to save
their lives?
Not quite: If someone says you must torture another in order to live,
Thomson says, "I think you have not the right, even to save your
life, to do so" (188). But 'a woman surely can defend her
life against the threat to it posed by the unborn child, even if doing
so involves its death." (188)
| On the Moral
& Legal Status of Abortion by Mary Anne
Warren Professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University |
Warren claims women have a
fundamental right to make their own decisions about their bodies.
Because the fetus is not a person, abortion can be justified under any circumstances.
Some claim her definition of personhood even permits infanticide
under some circumstances.
Main Point: The fetus is not a person. It is not human in the moral sense. Personhood is achieved when there is
consciousness
reasoning
self-motivated activity
the capacity to communicate
the presence of self-concepts & self-awareness
Personhood is gradually earned; it does not occur
at conception.
Rights increase as "personhood" increases.
Restrictive abortion laws are unjust. "We cannot hope to convince those who consider abortion a form of murder of the existence of any such right unless we are able to produce a clear and convincing refutation of the traditional antiabortion argument" (197)
However, she ends her essay, "When an unwanted or defective infant is born into a society which cannot afford and/or is not willing to care for it, then its destruction is permissible."
In contrast, an attractive , born baby should not be killed because some would be willing to adopt it, and it no longer infringes and violates on a woman's rights because it is not "inside" the mother's body.
After publication, Warren added a postscript: She does not support infanticide.
| Virtue Theory and Abortion by Rosalind Hursthouse |
Virtue theory is based on Aristotle's virtue theory.
She defines virtue as, "A character
trait a human being needs to flourish or live well."
She defines virtuous person as one "Who has and exercises
virtues"
She defines right action as " What a virtuous agent would do
in the circumstance."
Hursthouse examines situations wherein a woman might consider abortion & asks, "Would a virtuous woman have an abortion in this case?" Hursthouse says we should examine whether a woman is living the good life, & ask, "Is this life of her a good one?"
Two points are basic to her answer:
1. Aborting a fetus is always a matter of some seriousness
2. Being a parent constitutes, in part, a flourishing human life.
If women do have a moral right to do as they choose with their own bodies, then a law forbidding abortion would be unjust.
Virtue entails having the right attitude (accurate/true in modern sense)
The status of the fetus must be known, as a truth,
to the fully wise and virtuous person.
Parenthood, motherhood and childbearing are intrinsically worthwhile
accd. to Hursthouse.
Hursthouse says women may have a a number of rights, yet in love and friendship is we constantly insist on our rights & getting exactly what is "due" us, the relationships may not endure. So in exercising our "rights," we may be acting in a cruel manner. Even though I "ought" to do something kind for you, it doesn't follow that you have a "right" to it. The same goes with abortion.
Selected passages - Hursthouse Why is it wrong to view an abortion as similar to a
haircut or an appendectomy ? "If we suppose that women do have a moral right to do as they choose with their own bodies, or, more particularly, to terminate their pregnancies, then it may well follow that a law forbidding abortion would be unjust" (207). Could one react to people's grief at a miscarriage by saying, "What a fuss about nothing!" as one would over a bad haircut? (209) Appreciation of the grief of miscarriage, of personhood... ...."comes only with experience." (209) "That they can view the pregnancy only as nine months of misery, followed by hours if not days of agony and exhaustion, and abortion only as the blessed escape from this prospect, is entirely understandable and does not manifest any last of serious respect for human life or a shallow attitude to Motherhood. what it does show is that something is terribly amiss in the conditions of their lives, which make it so hard to recognize pregnancy and childbearing as the good that they can be." (210) What does Hursthouse say about men?
If we suppose that women do have a moral right to do as they choose with their own bodies, or, more particularly, to terminate their pregnancies, then it may well follow that a law forbidding abortion would be unjust. Hursthouse -
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| What is meant by the "Ontological Status of the Fetus"? What kind of being the fetus is - is it a tissue, a growth, a person... Is the fetus biologically a human being? Is the fetus psychologically a human being Is the fetus a person, entitled to the rights of personhood & the 14th amendment? One's view on the ontological status of the fetus impacts one's view
on abortion. What is the moral status of the fetus according to three positions? Extreme liberals would deny the fetus any moral status. Extreme conservative give full ontological status at
conception. Moderates assign moral status to the fetus when it attains full ontological status. (brain activity, for example) Which brings us to the question: Does the fetus have a right to be carried to full term?
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Pregnancy Risk Factors http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/pregrisk.htm
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Prison fellowship
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