Abortion and Infanticide: A Moral Perspective

Running head: MEDICAL LAW
MEDICAL LAW
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
Abortion is the process of ending a pregnancy by removing or expelling an embryo
before it survives out of the uterus1. It is the termination of pregnancy, often done within first 28
weeks of the pregnancy. When occurs without human intervention, it is known as a spontaneous
abortion or miscarriage2. In this write up, deliberate ending of the pregnancy is discussed. It is a
very controversial and debatable topic as it deals with the rights and wrongs of abortion by
killing of the fetus. This assignment discusses about the morality of abortion and infanticide. The
most fundamental objection that arises against the process of abortion states that human fetuses
and infants have a right to live3. This essay is concerned with this claim only. The main matter
discussed here is that what are the characteristics and properties that are needed to be present to
be considered as a living body. Here the moral principle will be stated and defended specifying a
criterion which is to be satisfied in order to be considered to have a right to life. It would be seen
in the following part that human fetuses and infants do not satisfy this condition and thus they do
not have a right to live. But this is again can be set aside by other theories. When there are no
objections to abortion and infanticide, it is morally acceptable4. These moral conditions can vary
with time and situation. These have been elaborated in the light of the theories propounded by
Judith Jarvis Thomson, Michael Tooley and others. In this regard, the present laws on abortion in
England and Wales is referred too.
1 ESHRE Capri Workshop Group. "Induced abortion." Human reproduction (Oxford, England) 32.6 (2017): 1160.
2 Duffy, Deirdre, et al. "Abortion, emotions, and health provision: Explaining health care professionals' willingness
to provide abortion care using affect theory." Women's Studies International Forum. Vol. 71. Elsevier, 2018.
3 McCurdy, Stephen A. "Abortion and public health: Time for another look." The Linacre Quarterly 83.1 (2016): 20-
25.
4 Marquis, Don. "Why Abortion is Immoral." Applied Ethics: A Multicultural Approach (2017): 367.

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Discussion:
Induced or deliberate abortion is a crime in UK. It raises some problems for private
conscience, constitutional law and public policy. Majority of these problems are mostly
philosophical. Since abortion is considered to be a public agenda, changes in the government
policy and public opinion on abortion made the philosophers to divert their attention to this issue
in order to solve it. Public issues became the matters of philosophical concern. Philosophy found
to be perfect in resolving matters of public controversy and debate5. Philosophy could deal with
any matter in a highly rational way. These philosophers started to take deep interest in the matter
of abortion since 1960. Joel Feinberg emphasizes the questions regarding abortion morality can
be categorized into two parts; the first group or part is concerned with problems relating to moral
status of unborn and the other with resolving the claims of conflict, particularly the claims of the
fetus together with the mother. When the moral status of the unborn fetus is considered, it is seen
that some of the philosophers give them no moral status. On the other hand, some of them grant
full moral status to them. When the philosophers refer the abortion problem as a problem related
to conflicting claims, then either they contend that the mother’s claim overrides the fetus’s claim
or vice versa. All these were elaborated in the following part of the write up. In this regard two
important terms, ‘human fetus’ and ‘moral status’ are discussed.
A human fetus is an unborn human being from the third month end till birth. Embryo and
zygote succeed it. However, in general, the term fetus is used to indicate unborn human offspring
at any stage during its development before birth. On the other hand, the term ‘moral status’
means an object of moral concern or in other words, it is a type of object whose treatment has
some sort of moral result. Sometimes, it is confusing that whether fetus is a person or not.
5 Barney, Angela. "Finding Common Ground Within the Abortion Debate." (2016): 64-66.

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Similarly, the question regarding moral status as a question whether a fetus is a human being or
human is also confusing. It will be necessary to clear questions, if any about the humanity of
fetus.
It is however important to note that the idea of abortion does not exist in the moral
vacuum. The arguments essentially consist of the claim that the absence of respect to any type of
human life will cause gradual decrease of respect to any forms of human life. The arguments that
those who support limited scope of abortion will assist in other moral issues like euthanasia,
eugenics and infanticide, such arguments are called ‘slippery slope arguments’6. These
arguments are however not argued by these philosophers who always limit themselves to the
ambit of abortion. On the contrary, few philosophers have no problem with the results of
abortion referred by ‘slippery slope argument’. It will be seen Michael Tooley made arguments
supporting infanticide and abortion.
However, it can be seen that the ‘slippery slope arguments’ are quite popular among the
philosophers who do not support abortion. The common facts found in the arguments made by
those who supported slippery slope argument are that the most vulnerable members in any
society must be protected. Else, the result will be eugenics or survival of the genetically fittest.
Opinions are found to be divided in the advantages and disadvantages of the concept of
eugenics7. But the question lies here is whether there lies any right which says that a genetically
perfect society can be created. If the answer to this is yes, then abortion can be held to be
permissible8. Critics will however contend that the quality of the human culture lies in its
6 Clifford, John M. "Where is the argument for the conceptual slippery slope?." The British Journal of
Psychiatry 211.6 (2017): 397-397.
7 Gyngell, Christopher, and Thomas Douglas. "Selecting against disability: the liberal eugenic challenge and the
argument from cognitive diversity." Journal of Applied Philosophy 35.2 (2018): 319-340.
8 Marquis, Don. "Why Abortion is Immoral." Applied Ethics: A Multicultural Approach (2017): 367.

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diversity of genetic imperfection together with genetic perfection. The formation of a genetically
perfect society does not form the actual aim of the human beings.
The following part consist of mainly five parts, first one deals with the points put
forwarded by Judith Jarvis Thomson will be discussed9. The basis of the argument made by
Judith is the assumption that fetuses are persons having life since they are conceived10. In spite of
this, Judith asserts that it does not mean that the fetuses have the right of living. She, however,
does not favor infanticide. She does not even favor abortion on demand but contends that if there
is life risk of mother, then abortion can favored. In the second part, the points raised by Michael
Tooley in his article in addition to throwing light on the book written by Tooley where he
emphasizes that fetuses and some infants do not have moral status. The third part will
concentrate on criticism of Judith’s article. These types of criticisms are commonly associated
with any philosophical ideology. The fourth part will focus on the approach made by Tooley to
analyze the issues of infanticide and abortion. Part five will explore more realistic alternative
approach to deal with abortion plus infanticide. This part will discuss new ways where
personhood can be elaborated in relation of these matters.
Thomson in her article considered fetus to be a human being or a person from the time it
is conceived in the uterus11. She emphasizes that she does not believe that a person or human
being exist at the time of conception. However, she defends the claim that many abortions are
permissible morally even though the fetus is assumed to have moral standing. She contends that
although it is assumed for the reason of argument that presumptions move usually to conclude
9 Block, Walter E., Harold E. Wirth, and Joseph A. Butt. "Judith Jarvis Thomson on abortion; a libertarian
perspective." DePaul Journal of Health Care Law 19.1 (2018): 3.
10 Block, Walter E. "Judith Jarvis Thomson on Abortion: A Libertarian Perspective." DePaul J. Health Care L. 19
(2017): 1.
11 Kershnar, Stephen. "Fetuses are like rapists: a Judith-Jarvis-Thomson-inspired argument on abortion." Reason
Papers37.1 (2015): 88-109.

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that a fetus may never be destroyed12. However, most often, her claim is considered on contrary
by authors who think that once it can be shown that fetuses have a right to live, everything can be
conquered. These authors conclude that when a fetus is assumed to have a right to live,
everything must be done to support and preserve its life. Thomson expresses a class of situations
where the right to life of the fetus does not impose a corresponding responsibility in justice
anyone to conserve its life13.
Thomson usually takes into account several factors that may weigh a decision about the
morality of fetus. She holds the notion that a positive right indicates that the bearer must be given
with what he requires for sustaining his life. However, one thing he must not order to use the
body of another person. In the eyes of law, no one has the right against anyone that they must
give their body or parts of body even when they are needed for life. To support her reasoning,
one can give the example of widely prevalent principle that no person has the right to seize
organs, bone marrow or even blood even for using it for his own life. Thus, that a fetus has a
right to live does not necessarily mean that a woman has a responsibility to allow her body to its
own life support.
Thomson supports that when a woman deliberately involves into an unprotected
intercourse, it can be assumed that she had given a fetus the right to us her body and thus she has
a responsibility to continue the pregnancy14. However, this will not include pregnancies that are
caused due to rape or contraceptive non success. She does not consider the situation that resulted
12 Dworkin, Ronald, et al. "Assisted Suicide: The Philosophers' Brief." The New York Review of Books (2017).
13 Kershnar, Stephen. Does the Pro-life Worldview Make Sense?: Abortion, Hell, and Violence Against Abortion
Doctors. Routledge, 2017.
14 Kendall, Paige D., and Melissa J. Chen. "Case report of induced medical abortion following depot administration
of medroxyprogesterone acetate." International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 139.3 (2017): 371-372.