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Abortion: Three Philosophical Positions
Term Paper ID:44791
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Essay Subject:
How the persistent abortion debate reflects the philosophical rhetorical stances of deontology utilitarianism and ...... More...
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6 Pages / 1350 Words
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Paper Abstract:
How the persistent abortion debate reflects the philosophical rhetorical stances of deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics.
Paper Introduction:
The abortion controversy is the contemporary moral debate that simplywill not die and opposing ideas of the issue seem totally irreconcilable Although the United States Supreme Court\'s decision in Roe v Wade madelegal access to abortion the law of the land as of the war of wordsthat preceded the decision has dogged it in a variety of ways since thattime Because the abortion decision is weighted with moral and cultural aswell as psychological predicates dramatically antagonistic perspectives ofabortion as such and the
Text of the Paper:
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The plan of theresearch will be to address the issue fronts of opposing sides and themanner in which the debate is played out. accounts of the Fall" (429). "Redemptive Rhetoric: The Continuity Motif in the Rhetoric of Right to Life." Central States Speech Journal 31 (Spring 198 ): 52- 62. Hursthouse explains that themeaning of virtuous agent should not be identified with the deontologicalactor who follows certain rules. Lake referencesdeontology in characterizing antiabortion argumentation as seeking toimpose a duty on pregnant women to carry unwanted children to term and ofasserting a moral obligation to the fetus and to the moral order ingeneral. Instead, the virtuous agent is one whopossesses virtue, or the traits of character that enable the person to"flourish or live well" (226). The role of virtue ethics in the abortiondebate is to set aside the preoccupation with women's rights as they applyto the disposition of the fetus and to set aside claims of the fetus ashuman life and rather focus on the decision agent and the context andseriousness within which the decision for or against abortion is made.Abortion on that view is a normative moral issue but has less to do withideas about what actions are right and wrong or with people making up rulesfor women or other people defying such rules and more to do with moralagency and seriousness of purpose in the face of the decision. Abortion is undoubtedly a mechanism of population control.For some pregnant women, such as middle-aged women, the physical risks ofcarrying a pregnancy to full term far outweigh the benefit of seeing thepregnancy through. She contends thatvirtue ethics is such a theory. Nor does a woman who has been a good mother and is approaching the age at which she may be looking forward to being a good grandmother. As formulated by John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism entails thebelief that "pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirableas ends" (Mill 19). The purpose of this research is to examine thedebate with a view toward identifying the basis of various positions asdeontological, utilitarian, or based on virtue ethics. When Roebecame law, antiabortion advocates were put in the difficult position ofopposing law rather than insisting on respect for it. Thedeontological emphasis is on refraining "from evil-doing, rather than thepromotion of good-doing" (429). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1979.Solomon, Martha. On the principle of greatest happiness, the woman wouldbe considered morally entitled to terminate the pregnancy. . How that figures intothe abortion debate becomes clear upon consideration of the degree to whichan unwanted pregnancy impinges on the freedom of the woman in the case andcauses psychic pain--particularly, for example, if the pregnancy is theresult of a rape. A utilitarian position on abortion can be discerned in prochoiceadvocacy. The abortion controversy is the contemporary moral debate that simplywill not die, and opposing ideas of the issue seem totally irreconcilable.Although the United States Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Thereis also an issue of overpopulation and the strain on limited resources, anda full-term baby in that context hardly argues the greatest benefit to thegreatest number. "Order and Disorder in Antiabortion Rhetoric: A Logological View." Quarterly Journal of Speech 7 (November 1984): 425- 443.Mill, John Stuart. The overarching point is that a nontrivial decision in favor ofabortion may reflect rather than defy the tenets of virtue. Yet virtue ethicslooks chiefly at the disposition of the agent of action and thedetermination of whether the action is done thoughtfully and with anattitude that is not deliberately cruel and that reflects an appropriatestance toward parenthood and family relationships, as well as conditions onthe ground that are (or are not) conducive to a well-lived, flourishinglife. Prochoice advocates are seen as fated to abandon theirconscience and devolve from abortion to euthanasia, infanticide, eugenics,and descent into another Nazi regime (43 ). . "Deontological systems," Lake continues, "possess roughly the samesymbolic structure as the . Because the abortion decision is weighted with moral and cultural aswell as psychological predicates, dramatically antagonistic perspectives ofabortion as such and the decision for abortion inform debate on the issue.The abortion debate is not confined to opinion holders and makers or evento pregnant women but rather has implications for public policy and thosewho face the decision. According to Randall Lake, antiabortion argumentation isa critique of the human moral condition characterized as a negation ofsocial Order and Hierarchy. The totalizing principle of Utility as Mill describesit comes down to moral structures and behavior that inhere in the greatestgood for the greatest number; this is reinforced by Mill's equatingUtilitarianism with the Greatest Happiness Principle. Ed. . On the otherhand, a decision for abortion that is taken lightly, that trivializes lifeso that the would-be parent can continue to "have a good time" may well betaken as an immoral decision, according to virtue ethics as Hursthouseexplains it: "So even . Virtue ethics is defined by Hursthouse in terms of a virtuous agent,and according to that idea, "an action is right if it is what a virtuousagent would do in the circumstances" (225). long into the future, since the threat to morality andculture persists" (Solomon 56). "Virtue Theory and Abortion." Philosophy and Public Affairs 2 .3 (Summer 1991): 223-246.Lake, Randall A. Utilitarianism. Once moral law has beenabandoned, utter chaos is likely. Hursthouse admits that virtue ethics involvesmoral knowledge and wisdom and that this is a difficult concept to naildown; however, she also asserts that if it were not a difficult concept thewhole notion of virtue ethics would not be very substantive, or in herwords, would not be an "adequate normative theory" (233). Nor does a woman who discovers that her pregnancy may well kill her, and opts for abortion and adoption (Hursthouse 241). The basis on which antiabortion arguments are made seems relativelyeasy to identify. The solution that antiabortion advocatessee is to "bring[] positive law in line with the moral law" (43 ). . What Hursthouse refers to as "familiar facts" about the abortionissue include the idea that "parenthood in general and motherhood andchildbearing in particular, are intrinsically worthwhile." If that is so,"then a woman who opts for not being a mother [] by opting for abortion maythereby be manifesting a flawed grasp of what her life should be" (241).However, Hursthouse continues: Consider [] a woman who has already had several children and fears that to have another will seriously affect her capacity to be a good mother to the ones she has--she does not show a lack of appreciation of the intrinsic value of being a parent by opting for abortion. Another analysis of antiabortion argumentation cites the emergence ofa dilemma for advocates who, before Roe protected a woman's right toabortion access, had insisted on respecting the law of the land. On that point, Hursthouse says that "rule deontologynotoriously suffers from the same problem," inasmuch as rules can come intoconflict with each other. intransigence andperseverance . Hursthouse cites traditional issue fronts such as the status of thefetus on one hand and the rights of women on the other. . where the decision to have an abortion is theright one, it can still be a reflection of moral failing" (243), such asirresponsible sexual behavior. Lake is highly critical of that approach toargumentation on the issue, noting that it "is grounded in alleged sexualGuilt; it victimizes women, and it posits childbearing and legislatingagainst abortion as twin paths to Redemption" (426). . Similarly--toinvoke a slippery-slope argument from a different angle--the birth ofunwanted babies could conceivably elide into child abuse or neglect. Thathelps explain the militant advocacy for restrictions on legal abortions aswell as a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion for any reason. This makesantiabortion activism "preservative rather than revolutionary" and arguesthat "the Supreme Court's decision is a distortion of [authentic] legalprinciple" (Solomon 59). Thus do issue opponents become evil enemiesrather than political adversaries, and because opposing views constitute athreat to morality and culture, antiabortion activists find themselvesmobilizing against the structures of established society, transcendingspecious civil authority in favor of the higher and nobler good. Lake argues as well that antiabortion rhetoric tends to mistrustutilitarian ethics. Thus their argumentshifted into a mode of social critique and an appeal to higher forms oflaw. George Sher. That designation remains elusive, and Hursthouse lists a number ofobjections to virtue ethics, notably that virtues can sometimes conflict.Specifically, she cites potential conflicts between justice and charity; tomercy-kill someone may be an act of charity, but "justice bids me stay myhand" (229). Wade madelegal access to abortion the law of the land as of 1973, the war of wordsthat preceded the decision has dogged it in a variety of ways since thattime. Anti-abortion discourse, he says, "reliesexplicitly and implicitly on theology and deontology for the content andform of its arguments" (426). Thus an abortion would be permissible if the results ofthe abortion are generally beneficial, with society, the woman in question,and the pool of children being beneficiaries. Works CitedHursthouse, Rosalind. . In that line of argument, diminishment of prenatal life prefigures adanger to all human life, hence to very civilization itself, and all ofthis is a consequence of misapplied freedom in a permissive Americansociety, which must turn back now in order to "reclaim [its] soul" (56).The project of reclamation in turn elides into the "imperative of sustainedopposition," and right-to-life "rhetoric emphasizes . .
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