A Defense of Abortion

by David Boonin

• ISBN13: 9780521520355
• ISBN10: 0521520355
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

David Boonin has written the most thorough and detailed case for the moral permissibility of abortion yet published. Critically examining a wide range of arguments that attempt to prove that every human fetus has a right to life, he shows that each of these arguments fails on its own terms. He then explains how even if the fetus does have a right to life, abortion can still be shown to be morally permissible on the critique of abortion's own terms. Finally he considers several pro-life arguments that do not depend on claims that the fetus has a right to life and concludes that these too are ultimately unsuccessful. This major book will be especially helpful to those teaching applied ethics and bioethics in philosophy departments or professional schools of law and medicine. It will interest students of women studies and general readers for whom abortion remains a high-profile issue.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Framing the Debate	1	(18)
Overview	1	(2)
The Question	3	(6)
Framing the Question	3	(3)
Three Objections	6	(3)
The Method	9	(5)
Reflective Equilibrium	9	(4)
Reflective Equilibrium and Abortion	13	(1)
The Arguments	14	(5)
The Rights-Based Argument	14	(4)
Non-Rights-Based Arguments	18	(1)
The Conception Criterion	19	(72)
Overview	19	(1)
The Parsimony Argument	20	(3)
The Species Essence Argument	23	(3)
The Kindred Species Argument	26	(1)
The Sanctity of Human Life Argument	27	(6)
The Slippery Slope Argument	33	(12)
The Potentiality Argument	45	(4)
The Essential Property Argument	49	(7)
The Future-Like-Ours Argument	56	(29)
The Argument	57	(5)
The Challenge	62	(2)
Occurrent versus Dispositional Desires	64	(6)
Actual versus Ideal Desires	70	(9)
Implications	79	(6)
The Probability Argument	85	(6)
Postconception Criteria	91	(42)
Overview	91	(1)
Implantation	92	(3)
External Human Form	95	(2)
Actual Fetal Movement	97	(1)
Perceived Fetal Movement (Quickening)	98	(1)
Initial Brain Activity	98	(17)
The Brain	99	(3)
The Cerebral Cortex	102	(2)
The Initial Brain Activity Criterion	104	(8)
The Symmetry Argument	112	(3)
Organized Cortical Brain Activity	115	(14)
The Proposal	115	(1)
Rival Arguments	116	(6)
The Modified Future-Like-Ours Argument	122	(5)
The Gray Area	127	(2)
Viability	129	(4)
The Good Samaritan Argument	133	(149)
Overview	133	(2)
The Argument	135	(4)
The Weirdness Objection	139	(9)
The Tacit Consent Objection	148	(19)
Consent versus Responsibility	148	(2)
The Significance of the Objection	150	(3)
The Objection's Two Claims	153	(1)
Rejecting the First Claim	154	(10)
Rejecting the Second Claim	164	(3)
The Responsibility Objection	167	(21)
Two Senses of Responsibility	168	(4)
The Significance of the Distinction	172	(3)
Three Objections	175	(13)
The Killing versus Letting Die Objection	188	(24)
The Objection	188	(5)
Letting the Fetus Die	193	(6)
Killing the Fetus	199	(5)
Two Objections	204	(8)
The Intending versus Foreseeing Objection	212	(15)
The Objection	212	(3)
Intentionally Letting the Fetus Die	215	(6)
Intentionally Killing the Fetus	221	(6)
The Stranger versus Offspring Objection	227	(7)
The Adult versus Infant Objection	234	(2)
The Different Burdens Objection	236	(6)
The Organ Ownership Objection	242	(4)
The Child Support Objection	246	(8)
The Extraction versus Abortion Objection	254	(6)
The Third-Party Objection	260	(2)
The Feminist Objection	262	(4)
The Ignoring Patriarchy Version	263	(2)
The Selfishness Version	265	(1)
The Duty to Save the Violinist Objection	266	(7)
The Conscription Version	267	(1)
The Involuntary Samaritan Version	268	(1)
The Justification versus Excuse Version	269	(2)
The Consequentialist Version	271	(2)
The Compensation Objection	273	(1)
The Inconsistency Objection	274	(2)
Some Puzzles Resolved	276	(6)
Non-Rights-Based Arguments	282	(43)
Overview	282	(1)
The Golden Rule Argument	283	(15)
Hare's Version	284	(5)
Gensler's Version	289	(9)
The Culture of Death Argument	298	(2)
The Pro-Life Feminist Argument	300	(10)
The Uncertainty Argument	310	(15)
Three Versions of the Argument	312	(2)
Three Objections	314	(11)
Bibliography	325	(20)
Index	345