Virtue Theory and Abortion
Published 8 December 2022
Rosalind Hursthouse
Citations69
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Abstract
Abstract Many objections to virtue theory as a moral theory on a level with deontology and utilitarianism can be dismissed when its structure is properly understood and it is clear what has to be assumed by any moral theory. Applied to issues of abortion, an approach in terms of the virtues takes account of all aspects of pregnancy and related biological and social issues, instead of focusing only on the moral status of the foetus and/or the rights of the woman, both approaches which are inadequate to the seriousness of the issue and also lead to unsettlable disputes.
Keywords
MedicineHealth Professions
Journal of Medical EthicsEthics and the Limits of Philosophy
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Since the authors are approaching these topics from the standpoint of social scientists, their recommendations for legislative action which surely must be based on properly ethical considerations, not merely sociological ones seem devoid of any satisfactory rational support.
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598 Citations1973Mary Anne Warren
It is argued that, while it is not possible to produce a satisfactory defense of a woman’s right to obtain an abortion without showing that a fetus is not a human being, in the morally relevant sense of that term, it ought not to conclude that the difficulties involved in determining whether or not aetus is human make it impossible to produce any satisfactory solution to the problem of the moral status of abortion.