1. 1A version of this paper was presented at the Central Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago, IL, April 2002, and at the Northwest Philosophy Conference, Portland, OR, October 2002. Thanks to Judith Green, who commented on the paper presented at the APA meeting, and to Richard Greene, who presented very stimulating comments at the Northwest Philosophy Conference. Special thanks to Randy Groves, Todd Hughes, Arthur Kuflik, Don Loeb, Don Marquis, Alastair Norcross, and Rodney Roberts for their thoughts on this paper.
2. 2The conservative maintains that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception. Since moral rights or moral status are ascribed to human life at conception, defenders of this position hold that abortion is morally wrong in most cases, with the possible exception of, e.g. cases in which the mother's life is endangered by the pregnancy. The liberal view holds that the fetus does not have any significant moral status or moral rights throughout pregnancy; it only achieves this after birth. Therefore, abortion is never wrong because it violates the moral rights of the fetus, and hence is morally permissible in most or all cases. The moderate view represents a set of views that is neither conservative or liberal. On this view, the general questions regarding when abortion is permissible are (A) Up to what point of fetal development is abortion morally acceptable? and (B) What reasons are acceptable for morally justifying an abortion? This specification of the viewpoints underscores that there are more than simply two fundamental positions in the abortion debate. For further discussion and clarification of these positions, see R. Card. 2004.Critically Thinking About Medical Ethics. Upper Saddle River. Prentice Hall: 68-69.
3. Why Abortion is Immoral
4. Sensationalized Philosophy: A Reply to Marquis's "Why Abortion is Immoral"