Abstract
This is a common, and not unreasonable, response to the argument in our first chapter. Consider how we would respond to this argument: “elderly people are a problem for society, and especially for women; so it should be legal for their lives to be terminated at the request of their carer”? For some people—admittedly a small minority—abortion is no different; it involves taking the life of one innocent human being for the convenience of another.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Notes
- 1.
Cited in Frances J. Beckwith (2007). Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 129.
- 2.
Frances J. Beckwith (2007). Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. xiv.
- 3.
Francis J Beckwith (2007). Defending Life: A Legal and Moral Case Against Abortion Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 5.
- 4.
Such as Professors John Harris and Peter Singer, leading ethicists (in Britain and the USA respectively) who consider abortion to be permissible on a broadly utilitarian and morally unproblematic basis.
- 5.
See David S. Oderberg (2000b). Moral Theory: A Non-Consequentialist Approach. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 66–76.
- 6.
Daniel A. Dombrowski and Robert Deltete (2000). A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
- 7.
Rachel K. Jones and Joerg Dreweke (2011). Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use. Washington, DC: Guttmacher Institute.
- 8.
David S. Oderberg (2000a). Applied Ethics: A Non-Consequentialist Approach. Oxford: Blackwell, p. 2.
- 9.
Katha Pollitt (2014). Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights. New York: Picador.
- 10.
In truth, abortion providers, like all good doctors, are keen to provide any information a patient wishes to receive. They, more than anyone, are motivated to ensure their patients’ consent to clinical intervention is obtained properly. Not to do so, in most countries, would lay them open to criminal prosecution and potentially costly private litigation.
- 11.
Lennart Nilsson (1990). A Child Is Born. London: Doubleday.
- 12.
Karen Newman (1996). Fetal Positions: Individualism, Science and Visuality. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- 13.
Sara Dubow (2011). Ourselves Unborn: A History of the Fetus in Modern America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dubow provides a thorough account of how in the USA in the 1930s preserved fetal specimens were displayed as educational specimens, and how they became an emblem of the American family.
- 14.
Rosalind Pollack Petchesky (1986). Abortion and Women’s Choice: The State, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom. London: Verso, p. 334.
- 15.
Stuart W. G. Derbyshire (2001). Fetal pain: An infantile debate. Bioethics, 15(1), 77–84.
- 16.
Daniel Dombrowski and Robert Deltete (2000). A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion. Urbana: Illinois University Press, pp. 26–31.
- 17.
Bertrand Russell (1946). The History of Western Philosophy and Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 372–386.
- 18.
Karen Newman (1996). Fetal Positions: Individualism, Science, and Visuality. Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 33.
- 19.
Cited and discussed in R. Alta Charo (2007). The partial death of abortion rights. New England Journal of Medicine, 356, 2125–2128.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
Michael F. Greene (2007). The intimidation of American physicians—Banning partial-birth abortion. The New England Journal of Medicine, 356, 2128–2129.
- 22.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2010). Fetal Awareness: Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice. Report of a Working Party. London: RCOG, p. 11.
- 23.
Stuart W. G. Derbyshire and A. Raja (2011). On the development of painful experience. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18(9–10), 233–256.
- 24.
Chief Medical Officer (2005). An Investigation into the British Pregnancy Advisory Service Response to Requests for Late Abortions–A Report by the Chief Medical Officer. London: Department of Health (Gateway ref: 5463).
- 25.
Michael Litchfield and Susan Kentish (1974). Babies for Burning. London: Serpentine Press.
- 26.
See e.g. Sabrina Tavernisen (2011, January 22). Squalid abortion clinic escaped state oversight. New York Times.
- 27.
Ellie Lee (2003). Abortion, Motherhood and Mental Health: Medicalizing Reproduction in the United States and Great Britain. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp 19–41.
- 28.
In the USA, the ACOG and in the UK the RCOG produce detailed Guidelines containing information that their members should communicate to patients and how relative risks should be explained.
- 29.
Ellie Lee (2003). Abortion, Motherhood and Mental Health: Medicalizing Reproduction in the United States and Great Britain. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 46–54.
- 30.
Vincent M. Rue (1995). Post-Abortion Syndrome: A variant of post-traumatic stress disorder. In Peter Doherty (Ed.), Post-Abortion Syndrome: Its Wide Ramifications. Dublin: Four Courts Press, p. 20.
- 31.
Vincent M. Rue (1995). Post-Abortion Syndrome: A variant of post-traumatic stress disorder. In Peter Doherty (Ed.), Post-Abortion Syndrome: Its Wide Ramifications. Dublin: Four Courts Press, p. 20.
- 32.
Mary Krane Derr, Rachel MacNair and Linda Naranjo-Huebl (2005). Prolife Feminism: Yesterday and Today. Kansas City: Feminism and Non-Violent Studies Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Furedi, A. (2016). The Case Against Abortion. In: The Moral Case for Abortion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41119-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41119-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-41118-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-41119-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)