Aleka LampruTA: Hong ChenPhilosophy 14024 October 2013Summarize and explain Don Marquis’ argument for the conclusion that “abortion is, except possibly in rare cases, seriously immoral.” Then explain in detail one of the objections Marquis considers to this argument. How does Marquis respond to this objection? Is his reply effective? Why or why not?Don Maquis’ essay’s aim is to simply prove that “abortion is, except possibly in rare cases, seriously immoral”; this line is the author’s thesis of the argument. In his article, he addresses that abortion is morally wrong, and should not be allowed, except in very specific cases. He states, “the purpose of this essay is to develop a general argument for the claim that the overwhelming majority of deliberate abortions are seriously immoral”(Marquis 183); by deliberate, Marquis is not referring to miscarriages. He takes the time to mention both anti-abortionists and pro-choicers in his argument as he says thatthere are faults on both sides as the pro-choice view is too narrow and the pro-life is simply too broad. In his anti-abortion argument, Marquis has the strong assumption that “it is typically seriously wrong to kill us (adult human beings)” (189). The central aspect of this wrongdoing revolves around the fact that killing deprives us of the value of our future. “It deprives us not only of what we value now and would have, given our current predilections, valued later, but also of what we would have come to value” (190). One implication that Marquis takes into account of a central wrong-making feature of killing includes that it is seriously wrong to kill children and infants; while stating this sentence,he is directly referring to Mary Ann Warren. When speaking about exceptions on abortion or even rare instances during his argument, Marquis is referring to instances that could possibly be ethically controversial; these debatable scenarios include cases regarding abortion after rape or abortion during the first fourteen days after the fetus has been conceived. In addition, Marquis provides one more exception to his argument that includes pregnancy that could possibly endangerthe life of a woman. Don Marquis also quotes Judith Thomson’s view that states that fetuses have the right to live; he uses this view to conclude that abortion is actually morally permissible when a pregnancy arises due to a rape. Don Marquis believes that theright to life overrides the right to control an individual’s own body and abortion is simplywrong. Marquis’s most persuasive argument, however, is that abortion is wrong because it involves the killing of someone like us, an individual, a human being, who is simply very young and therefore has no saying. Marquis explains the example of a future like ours. He states that depriving a being of the value of a future like ours makes killing it wrong. Killing a fetus deprives it of the value of a future like ours, and therefore killing a fetus is wrong. If we abort or kill a fetus, who could’ve become an infant, and later on have a future like ours filled with pleasure and value—having a family, a career, interacting with people—then it is morally wrong. This example is truly persuasive as it uses emotional attachment to compare the life of a fetus to the life that an individual already living may experience in this world. If the fetus were to be aborted, it would not be able to experience the life we get to live. By using this method, he tries to convince theaudience that the only reason that killing a fetus could be morally permissible would be ifwe were defending ourselves…trying to save our own personal life. The example of a future like ours portrays the unfairness of killing an unborn child as there is a loss of a valuable future, which would be a misfortune, and therefore making abortion wrong. One of the objections Marquis considers to this argument includes that “a necessary condition for the wrongness of killing a being is that doing so interfere with thefulfillment of the being’s desire to go on living. But fetuses do not have a desire to go on living so killing them is not wrong” (195-196). Marquis responds to this argument by using suicidal people as an example to defend his stance; he argues that suicidal individuals do not have a desire to go on living, but it is morally wrong to give them a lethal injection anyways. I believe his reply is effective and valid; he has a strong argument to this objection as suicidal people have no interest in the future, but killing thisindividual, nonetheless, would be wrong and murder. Marquis is also subject to criticism on some of the other premises of his arguments. Don Marquis’s essay establishes that abortion, excluding unusual circumstances, is seriously wrong.A He believes that the lack of a future like ours truly explains why killing is wrong.A Abortion deprives a fetus from having a future like ours, with value, and therefore, abortion is morally wrong.AI do agree with Marquis that abortion, except in unusual circumstances, is wrong.AHowever, it all boils down to the mother’s decision and in the case of a pregnancy that could hurt the mother or potentially endanger her life and ultimately kill her, abortion should be