1 Definitions a Moral Person a person that has a serious moral right to life b Fetus a human organism during any stage of prenatal development c Abortion procedure or technical process performed with the intention of terminating a pregnancy or halting the development of a fetus d Self Consciousness Criterion a moral person if and only if the person is self conscious meaning the person has a concept of itself as a continuing subject of experiences and other mental states and believes itself to be such an entity The problem is that self consciousness is not fully reached until about 4 years of age so according to this criterion a human between birth and 4 years of age would not be considered a moral person which is universally seen as untrue e X has a right to Y if x has a desire for y then it is morally impermissible other things being equal for others to deprive x of y f Fundamental Kind a thing s being an instance of kind explains what it is in the most basic and fundamental way g Essential Kind things that are of kind K cannot fail to be of that kind any possible situation in which the thing exists is a situation in which it is of kind K any situation in which the thing is not of kind K is a situation in which it does not exist at all h Aristotelian Essentialism if an entity has at a certain time the potential to develop into an instance of Kind K at some later time then the entity is already an instance of kind K at that certain time The most serious problem with this conception of personhood is that any embryonic stem cell has the potential to break off and create a human so this would mean the potential for life is infinite i FLO Principle if an act token deprives the victim of a valuable future then the act token is morally impermissible 2 Arguments a Basic Pro Life Argument P 1 If fetuses are human persons then act tokens involving abortion are morally wrong 2 Fetuses are human persons 3 Therefore act tokens involving abortion are morally wrong E D1 If fetuses are human persons then they have a serious moral right to life so other people would have a duty to respect that right to life If an abortion was completed than you would intentionally be ending the life of the fetus and violating it s right to life thereby not doing your duty which is morally wrong D2 Fetuses have the potential to become a person at a later time due to that potential it can be considered a person now due to the potentiality principal E Valid Yes Form Modus Ponens Sound Controversial PAL Line 2 according to the potentiality principle every cell in the embryo has an unlimited potential for life due to it s ability divide and make new people therefore there is too much potential for life to the point where not all life would be possible due to resources available so they could not be considered human persons b Thomson s Fetus is a Person P 1 The fetus is a person suppose for the sake of argument 2 Every person has a right to life 3 So the fetus has a right to life 4 The fetus right to life outweighs the mother s right to bodily autonomy 5 If the fetus has a right to life and the fetus right to life outweighs the mother s right to bodily autonomy then abortion is morally wrong 6 Therefore abortion is morally wrong E D1 No defense because it is a supposition D2 Definition of moral person D3 Intermediate conclusion following premises one and two via modus ponens D4 The right to life is more important than bodily autonomy because life can still continue without bodily autonomy D5 Would be morally wrong because right to life would have to be respected above bodily autonomy when both could not be respected at the same time so abortion would be wrong since life is more important and abortion is the ending of a life E Valid Yes Form Modus Ponens Sound No PAL Line 4 sometimes the mother s bodily autonomy outweighs the right to life of the fetus like in cases of the famous violinist where it would be morally permissible to detach yourself from someone invasive Sometimes the bodily imposition on someone is so great and challenging that bodily autonomy outweighs someone s right to life if it was not entered into voluntarily c Thomson s Famous Violinist Background Justin is kidnapped and taken to an underground medical bunker where he has been linked to a famous violinist and his kidneys are being used to support the violinist because the violinist s own kidneys are healing and will be unusable for 9 months Justin is what is keeping the violinist alive and can unhook himself but it would cause the violinist to die P A1 Justin unhooks himself from the famous violinist resulting in the death of the violinist 1 A1 is morally right 2 If A1 is morally right then the mother s right to bodily autonomy sometimes outweighs the fetus s right to life 3 If the mother s right to bodily autonomy sometimes outweighs the fetus right to life then some act tokens involving abortion are permissible 4 Therefore some act tokens involving abortion are permissible E D1 The obligation to undertake a responsibility so large should only be made voluntarily because so much is required of the person In this case Justin did not volunteer or consent to being hooked up to the violinist so he did not take on this obligation therefore it is morally permissible for him to unhook himself because his bodily autonomy outweighs the violinist s life D2 Pregnancy is a life changing and body altering imposition that should not be entered into involuntarily and if it is entered into involuntarily or not on purpose than she has no obligation to go through this huge bodily imposition solely on the reason that the fetus has a right to life D3 If the mother s bodily autonomy outweighs the fetus right to life due to the nature of the imposition on her body and her lack of obligation then it would be morally permissible to have an abortion because the mother has no obligation to the fetus E Valid Yes Form Modus Ponens Sound Controversial PAL Line 2 famous violinist argument is not completely analogous to the usual pregnancy because usually it is entered into voluntarily so the obligation to the fetus life exists There are also ways in which to minimize pregnancy resulting from sexual activity so by consenting to sexual activity one may consent to getting pregnant and supporting the fetus d Thomson s Famous Violinist argument shows that the mother is a living person with bodily autonomy that matters outside of the fetus life Her goal was to factor that into the