Abstract
The impairment argument claims that abortion is immoral, because it results in a greater impairment to a fetus than other actions that are clearly immoral, such as inflicting fetal alcohol syndrome. Alex Gillham argues that the argument requires clarification of the meaning of greater impairment. He proposes two definitions, and points out the difficulties with each. In response, I argue that while the impairment argument’s definition of greater impairment is narrow in scope, it is sufficient for its intended purpose. Broadening its scope to more controversial comparisons of impairment is likely to undermine the intuitive appeal of the impairment principle that the argument is based upon.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Suggested by an anonymous reviewer.
Most ethicists agree that giving a fetus FAS is immoral, although there are exceptions. For example, Flanigan (2020) argues that prenatal injury is permissible, based on the premise that abortion is permissible.
References
Blackshaw, B. P. 2019. The impairment argument for the immorality of abortion: a reply. Bioethics 33: 723–724. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12576.
Blackshaw, B. P., and P. Hendricks. 2021. Strengthening the impairment argument against abortion. Journal of Medical Ethics 47: 515–518. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106153.
Crummett, D. 2020. Violinists, demandingness, and the impairment argument against abortion. Bioethics 34: 214–220. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12699.
Cushing, S. 2023. Why the wrongness of intentionally impairing children in utero does not imply the wrongness of abortion. Journal of Medical Ethics 49: 146–147. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2022-108583.
Flanigan, J. 2020. The Ethics of prenatal Injury. Journal of Moral Philosophy 18(1): 26–48. https://doi.org/10.1163/17455243-bja10059.
Gillham, A. R. 2023. The impairment argument, ethics of abortion, and nature of impairing to the n + 1 degree. Med Health Care and Philos. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-023-10137-z.
Hendricks, P. 2018. Even if the fetus is not a person, abortion is immoral: the impairment argument. Bioethics 33(2): 245–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12533.
Hendricks, P. 2022. The impairment argument against abortion. In Agency, Pregnancy, and Persons: Essays in Defense of Human Life, edited by Nicholas Colgrove, Bruce P. Blackshaw, and Daniel Rodgers, 162–175. Routledge.
Hendricks, P. ed. 2019. (Regrettably) Abortion remains immoral: The impairment argument defended. Bioethics 33: 968– 969. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12644.
Marquis, D. 1989. Why abortion is immoral. The Journal of Philosophy 86(4): 183–202.
Pickard, C. 2020. Abortion is incommensurable with fetal alcohol syndrome. Bioethics 34: 207–210. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12697.
Räsänen, J. 2020. Against the impairment argument: a reply to Hendricks. Bioethics 34: 862–864. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12720.
Simkulet, W. 2021. On the impairment argument. Bioethics 35: 400–406. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12844.
Singh, P., and Fetuses. 2022. The New Bioethics 28(2):127–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/20502877.2022.2030507.
Thomson, J. J. 1971. A defense of abortion. Philosophy & Public Affairs 1(1): 47–66.
Funding
The author has no competing interest or funding to disclose. The author did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Blackshaw, B.P. A reply to Gillham on the impairment principle. Med Health Care and Philos 27, 31–35 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-023-10180-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-023-10180-w