Deck 11: Why Abortion Is Immoral

Question 1

The idea that Don Marquis has, that killing is wrong because it deprives something of a future like ours, is kind of a weird way of thinking about why killing is bad. Why do you think that killing is bad? How is this similar to or different from the way that Marquis thinks about killing? How does your view of killing relate to the abortion debate?

Answer 1

Offer a defense of the wrongness of killing.
Compare and contrast the author's defense with Marquis' account of the wrongness of killing.
Relate the author's account of the wrongness of killing to the abortion debate.

Question 2

Don Marquis says that his argument against killing fetuses does not apply to potential persons. What do we need to know if we want to draw a line between potential persons and beings with futures like ours? (Consider: is contraception wrong?; is intervening in order to stop IVF wrong?; is taking the Plan B pill wrong?) How can we know if we are dealing with a situation where something has a future like ours?

Answer 2

Explain what is needed to distinguish between potential persons and beings with futures like ours.
Use at least one example relating to the potential person's question in order to defend the author's point.

Question 3

Don Marquis' argument against abortion extends to say that some cases of killing nonhuman animals is seriously wrong. What is one nonhuman animal that you think Marquis has in mind when he says this? We probably don't treat that nonhuman animal like we treat other humans. What would it look like if we were to take Marquis' claim seriously with respect to our treatment of that nonhuman animal?

Answer 3

Identify an example of a nonhuman animal with a future like ours.
Explore what it would mean to take that nonhuman animal's life and future as seriously as we do the lives and futures of things that we believe it is seriously wrong to kill.

Question 4

Marquis' argues that whether or not abortion is morally permissible stands or falls on whether or not ________:

A) A fetus is a human person from the moment of conception
B) A fetus is the sort of being whose life it is seriously wrong to end
C) All human persons have lives of inherent value
D) A woman has the right to do as she wishes with her own body
E) A third party has the right to interfere in private medical issues

Question 5

Which of the following is Marquis' thesis?

A) All abortions, deliberate or not, are seriously immoral
B) All deliberate abortions are seriously immoral
C) The overwhelming majority of deliberate abortions are seriously immoral
D) Deliberate abortions are seriously immoral on rare occasions
E) No deliberate abortions are immoral

Question 6

Which "unproblematic assumption" does Marquis start off with?

A) It is good to care for infants
B) Fetuses are biologically human
C) Adults are free to make their own medical decisions
D) All human persons' lives have inherent value
E) It is wrong to kill us

Question 7

On Marquis' view, what makes killing wrong?

A) Religions forbid killing
B) Killing brutalizes the one who kills
C) Others would experience great loss due to the victim's absence
D) Being killed is one of the world's gravest injustices
E) Killing inflicts one of the greatest possible losses on the victim

Question 8

Which of the following statements is NOT compatible with Marquis' view of killing?

A) It is seriously wrong to kill some nonhuman mammals on our planet
B) It is seriously wrong to kill potential persons
C) It is prima facie seriously wrong to kill children and infants
D) Active euthanasia is morally permissible
E) None of these is compatible with Marquis' view of killing

Question 9

Marquis affirms that his argument shares the strengths of which two theories while also avoiding their weaknesses?

A) Human rights and deontological accounts
B) Virtue ethical and consequentialist accounts
C) Natural capacities and deprivation accounts
D) Sanctity-of-life and personhood accounts
E) Human rights and personhood accounts

Question 10

Marquis' view shares structural features with what other moral argument?

A) The argument for the permissibility of following one's own conscious
B) The argument for the permissibility of acting for the public interest
C) The argument for the permissibility of acting in good faith
D) The argument for the wrongness of stealing objects of inherent value
E) The argument for the wrongness of the wanton infliction of pain on animals

Question 11

When is abortion justified on Marquis' view?

A) Always
B) Any time that the pregnant woman has a moral reason to abort
C) When the justice condition is satisfied
D) When there are incredibly compelling reasons to abort
E) Never

Question 12

Marquis' argument has religious dogma as its foundation.

Question 13

Marquis' argues that it is worse to kill an infant than it is to kill an innocent adult human being.