This is the class website for Philosophy 3375 at Southern Methodist University (Spring 2014). You can reach me at jkazez@smu.edu

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Is it wrong to terminate a pregnancy? A liberal argument

Today we'll first finish discussing Finnis.  Some pertinent links--

How does Plan B (the morning after pill) really work?  here
What is the Catholic position on offering it after rape?  here
How would a Catholic hospital handle an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy?  here

***

Hard cases  (pregnancy is dangerous or life-threatening to mother)

  1. Mother has ectopic pregnancy (in fallopian tube). May doctors perform surgery to remove fallopian tube?  salpingostomy vs. salpingectomy (see link above)
  2. Ectopic pregnancy outside fallopian tube--may doctors remove?  
  3. Father likely to kill daughter if pregnancy is found out.  May doctors perform abortion?  
  4. Mother has been raped.  May she take "Plan B" at hospital? 
 Key principles
  1. Direct, intentional killing of innocent is wrong.  "This moral norm excludes even the choice to kill one innocent person as a means of saving another or others, or even as a means of preventing the murder of another or others." (p. 20)
  2. Mother and fetus are equals, with same right to life
  3. Fetus is not an "intruder, predator, or aggressor" (pg. 20) (So abortion is not "self defense.")
  4. Acts that bring about death can be permissible, if death is only a foreseeable side-effect of a procedure;  doctor must not intentionally kill one individual as a means of saving another. 
  5. Not all indirect (i.e. unintended) killings are permissible--often there is a better way.
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THOMSON POWERPOINT

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