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AN ARGUMENT AGAINST ABORTION ON DEMAND
Author(s) -
Pollock W. J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
ratio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-9329
pISSN - 0034-0006
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9329.2007.00347.x
Subject(s) - abortion , argument (complex analysis) , value (mathematics) , subject (documents) , position (finance) , value of life , law and economics , epistemology , positive economics , law , sociology , philosophy , economics , political science , medicine , pregnancy , computer science , microeconomics , genetics , finance , machine learning , library science , biology
The paper presents a simple but novel argument against the idea of abortion on demand – i.e. the situation where a woman does not need to justify an abortion. Rather than arguing from a theory of the Right to Life of the foetus, which many would regard as controversial, the paper argues from the point of view that the foetus has a certain (intrinsic) value – simply because it is human. Since the destruction of something of value must be justified, it follows that the destruction of a foetus must be justified. This rules out abortion on demand. I believe that shifting emphasis from rights to values could make a major difference to the abortion debate and will make many people rethink their position on the subject.