Non-Religious Argument Against Abortion

[Stone Island]

From, Marquis, Don (April 1989). "Why Abortion is Immoral". The Journal of Philosophy 86 (4): 183-202.

http://home.myuw.net/himma/phil241/trans7-1.htm

The misfortune of premature death involves a loss of the goods that make life worth living. On Marquis view, “the misfortune of premature death consists of the loss to us of the future goods of consciousness. What are these goods? … The goods of life are whatever we get out of life. The goods of life are those items toward which we take a pro attitude. They are completed projects of which we are proud, the pursuit of our goals, aesthetic enjoyments, friendships, intellectual pursuits, and physical pleasures of various sorts. The goods of life are what make life worth living” (190).


Accordingly, Marquis subscribes to the Future Like Ours Thesis (or FLO for short):


FLO: Killing a human is wrong because it deprives her of “a future like ours.”


Arguments in Support of the FLO theory.


The Considered Judgment Argument.


1. According to our considered judgments, what people fear the most about death is the loss of future experience.
2. If 1, then, according to our considered judgments, it is the loss of future experience that fully constitutes death as a grave misfortune to people.
3. Therefore, according to our considered judgments, it is the loss of future experience that fully constitutes death as a grave misfortune to people.
4. The fetus is equally capable of sustaining a loss of future experience.
5. Therefore, death is an equally grave misfortune for the fetus.
6. It is wrong to deliberately inflict a misfortune on a fetus that is as grave as death to people.
7. Therefore, it is wrong to deliberately inflict death on the fetus.
​

Another argument:

1. What makes murder the worst of crimes is that it deprives a person of her future experience.
2. If 1, then it is the worst of wrongs to deprive a being capable of future experience of all her future experience.
3. Therefore, it is the worst of wrongs to deprive a being capable of future experience of all her future experience.
4. A fetus is capable of future experience.
5. Therefore, it is the worst of wrongs to deprive a fetus of all her future experience.​

 

[Stone Island]

Course Notes on Marquis's argument by Allen Stairs

 

[rocketdodger]

This argument does not work because it can be shown that everything one does will result in future beings, who would otherwise be existent, not existing. If you step left, X people won't exist in the future, and if you step right, Y people won't exist.

Since it is impossible to measure such a thing, the only sane metric to use when considering deprivation of future experiences is to limit the examination to people existing now.

So the argument then becomes "is a fetus considered a person now?" I say no, and in fact I put the "personhood" marker at the time when an individual can consciously protest their death. That means infanticide is acceptable in my book, but I would still stay away from anyone that thought it was a good policy!

 

[IMST]

I'm actively non religious and somewhat anti-abortion, at least late term. The argument really comes down to when life begins to me. I don't for a moment accept that it is at conception, but I do think it is before birth.

 

[JoeEllison]

I'm all for abortion. This argument fails on a few levels. It ignores all negative possible futures for potential person and all the real people out there, by claiming that all future experience is by definition worth having. It makes the unfounded assertion that a fetus is aware of possible future experience.

 

[qayak]

Flaw: 5 does not follow from 4 and in fact, 5 is completely false. Death is not an equally grave misfortune for the fetus.

4. The fetus is equally capable of sustaining a loss of future experience.
5. Therefore, death is an equally grave misfortune for the fetus.

Flaw highlighted:

1. What makes murder the worst of crimes is that it deprives a person of her future experience.

 

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

Flaw: 5 does not follow from 4 and in fact, 5 is completely false. Death is not an equally grave misfortune for the fetus.

4. The fetus is equally capable of sustaining a loss of future experience.
5. Therefore, death is an equally grave misfortune for the fetus.

Flaw highlighted:

1. What makes murder the worst of crimes is that it deprives a person of her future experience.

Along a similar vein, the argument put forth makes the assumption that a fetus must be used as either 100% a person, or 0% a person. And, as In My Spare Time touched on; it is not impossible to look at a fetus as ranging from 0.01 to 0.99 of "a person" between conception and birth.

 

[scratchy]

If abortion would have been legal at the time of my birth im quite certain i wouldnt have been born. Instead my teenaged mother gave me up for adoption. While im not against abortion - on the grounds of a womans right to decide over her own body - that fact makes me somewhat uncomfortable with it.

 

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

If abortion would have been legal at the time of my birth im quite certain i wouldnt have been born. Instead my teenaged mother gave me up for adoption. While im not against abortion - on the grounds of a womans right to decide over her own body - that fact makes me somewhat uncomfortable with it.

Which is a level of confusion I've always had with regards to the hard-core anti-abortion crowd; they've always seemed so focused on why abortion is bad/morally wrong/a sin/whatever rather than showing that there are alternatives that are available. Is it a carryover of the stigma of the "unwed daughter having to go to the convent to give birth then give the baby up for adoption" era?

 

[qayak]

If abortion would have been legal at the time of my birth im quite certain i wouldnt have been born. Instead my teenaged mother gave me up for adoption. While im not against abortion - on the grounds of a womans right to decide over her own body - that fact makes me somewhat uncomfortable with it.

I am the youngest of seven and my mother had me when she was 30 years old. I know for a fact that she would never have aborted me and yet I am also uncomfortable with abortion.

However, that's just me. My unease with the procedure should not have any bearing on it being available to all women or on any woman's decision to have one. Afterall, I am uneasy about alcohol too but I am definitely not for prohibition.

 

[rocketdodger]

If abortion would have been legal at the time of my birth im quite certain i wouldnt have been born. Instead my teenaged mother gave me up for adoption. While im not against abortion - on the grounds of a womans right to decide over her own body - that fact makes me somewhat uncomfortable with it.

Same. While I defend it as an ethical choice (same goes for infanticide), I find it disturbing, and I would stress that anyone exhaust the other options before doing such a thing.

 

[NobbyNobbs]

Which is a level of confusion I've always had with regards to the hard-core anti-abortion crowd; they've always seemed so focused on why abortion is bad/morally wrong/a sin/whatever rather than showing that there are alternatives that are available. Is it a carryover of the stigma of the "unwed daughter having to go to the convent to give birth then give the baby up for adoption" era?

Now and then there are anti-abortion protesters outside the local hospital. (Note of interest: they are generally men!). I've always wanted to stop and ask them how many children they have personally adopted, but I've never quite had the guts to do it.

 

[skeptifem]

The goods of life are whatever we get out of life. The goods of life are those items toward which we take a pro attitude. They are completed projects of which we are proud, the pursuit of our goals, aesthetic enjoyments, friendships, intellectual pursuits, and physical pleasures of various sorts. The goods of life are what make life worth living” (190).

so is living always better than not living?? I do not think so.

 

[Cactus Wren]

Same. While I defend it as an ethical choice (same goes for infanticide), I find it disturbing, and I would stress that anyone exhaust the other options before doing such a thing.

What options? A woman who is pregnant and does not wish to give birth can

a) terminate the pregnancy,
b) carry to term and give birth,
or ... ?

 

[NeilC]

I wouldn't agree with premise 1) "What makes murder the worst of crimes is that it deprives a person of her future experience."

I'd say what makes murder one of the worst crimes, is that it deprives the person's family and other close relations with the experience of that person and causes them grief due to the experience they have had with them already and the expectations they had up to that point. From this it follows that terminating a very young or very sick foetus is not necessarily going to cause a lot of heartache to the mother who wants the termination.

Re: abortion in general I'm not up for terminating a healthy baby a day before it is due. I doubt anyone else is either. I'm not against terminating a tiny blob of cells a week after they start to multiply. I don't want women who have been raped to be forced to have babies they don't want. I don't want people to have to birth babies with terrible disabilities that would make the baby's and parents' lives a misery. However I don't want people to use abortion like lazy contraception. I don't want doctors to kill healthy and recognisable babies in the womb.

It's a complex issue that a simple logical argument cannot solve. We have to set somewhat arbitary rules based on medical science and what we are prepared to tolerate and what we expect doctors to do.

 

[apmason]

I feel that the entire argument collapses in the face of a single person who doesnt fear death. If argument 1 doesnt hold true 100% of the time then the rest of the logic cant hold either.

 

[Dancing David]

Um, so it is better for a child to grow up abused and in abject poverty?

I would not have an abortion but I certainly don't condemn those that do.

there is plenty of evil in the world, starving children, exposed to extreme violence and poverty, sexual abuse, etc...

A life of suffering has no more value than a life of not suffering.

 

[ponderingturtle]

The main issue I find with these arguments is that I can't see why people limit them to abortion and not say kidney donation. In both you are forcing someone to undergo medical procedures they do not want for the sake of another's life.

 

[sthomson]

I believe that life begins at conception. However, life also begins in the back of my fridge when I leave the leftovers for too long (and I don't see anti-choice advocates protesting my monthly fridge clean-out). Is that harsh? Possibly. When people mean "life", they mean, I suppose, the possibility of self-aware life.

This argument fails to consider that some self-aware humans welcome death, as it brings an end to human suffering. I could, if I wanted to, make the argument that denying life to a foetus is actually a moral act, as we prevent any future suffering the foetus will, by our considered judgement, suffer.

 

[Cainkane1]

I'm pro choice but I'd prefer the woman choose to have the baby. If she doesn't want it put it up for adoption. However its the womans choice not societies.