MIT OpenCourseWare http ocw mit edu 24 06J STS 006J Bioethics Spring 2009 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use visit http ocw mit edu terms Bioethics Session 7 Handout Abortion Is it morally permissible to abort a ten week fetus when you have a clear interest unrelated to health in doing so Here are the basic arguments offered by Tooley and Marquis Tooley s Argument what matters is whether it wants to live P1 P2 P3 C For any entities A X it is wrong to deprive A of X only if i A has a right to X and ii A wants X In order to want to live you must conceive of yourself as a thing that can persist through time Ten week fetuses do not conceive of themselves as things that can persist through time It is not wrong to deprive a ten week fetus of life Is this a good argument What about P1 Do you really have to want to live in order for it to be wrong to kill you What about suicidal teenagers What about the comatose Marquis Argument what matters is its potential P1 P2 It is wrong to deprive a thing of a valuable future By aborting a ten week fetus you deprive it of a valuable future C It is wrong to abort a ten week fetus It this a good argument What about P1 What about potential super cats
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