Abortion:
Right to Life Participation Exercise
What do you think it means to have the right to life? It might make it easier to answer this by considering what this right entitles you to. Or what obligations it places on others toward you.
Informed Consent Exercise:
What do you think about either the Texas law or the one banning certain size soft drinks or the FDA’s propsed ban on trans fats? (We make unsafe decisions sometimes–smoking cigarettes, for instance–that are ill-aadvised but not banned. What’s the difference? Is there any justification for banning anything?)
Read: “Why Abortion Is Immoral,” D. Marq
Abortion Short Answer Exam:
1. Consider the following cases and explain how Thomson will decide whether it’s OK to go ahead with an abortion in each one. Make sure you give Thomson’s reasons for her stand on these cases, including the sorts of questions she brings up for each.
A married couple has intercourse in order to start a family. She gets pregnant but then about 2 months into the pregnancy they split up and now the woman wants an abortion. Does Thomson think it’s morally acceptable for her to have it? Why or why not?
2. Someone who had careless intercourse with someone later finds out in her 8th month of pregnancy that she is pregnant. Now she wants an abortion. Does Thomson think this is a case where it’s morally OK to have one? Why or why not? (Note: This one is controversial. I am not seeking what someone else thinks about this—give Thomson’s position)
3. Someone who used contraception gets pregnant and wants an abortion in her 2nd month. Does Thomson think this is a case where it’s OK to have an abortion? Why or why not?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-eyes-ban-on-trans-fats-due-to-heart-disease-risk/