How personhood shapes abortion rights debates

The philosophical debates surrounding reproductive rights center on abortion, a longstanding and contentious discourse touching on moral, legal, medical, and religious aspects. In English-speaking countries, the debate has two major sides, commonly referred to as the "pro-choice" and "pro-life" movements, and often concerns the beginning of human personhood, the rights of the fetus, and bodily integrity.

3 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 2 hr 23 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   the philosophical debates surrounding reproductive rights · Wikipedia · 60+ min read

   In the philosophical debates surrounding reproductive rights, the deprivation argument says abortion is morally wrong because it deprives the fetus of a valuable future. It holds that killing an adult is wrong because it deprives the victim of a "future like ours," containing valuable or desirable experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments. The 2022 RCOG review of literature on fetal pain awareness concluded that "the possibility of pain perception before 28 weeks of gestation is unlikely." This evidence bears on reproductive-rights debates over claims about fetal pain.

2. Read
   The Ethics of Abortion (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) · plato.stanford.edu · 36 min read

   Moral person is something that counts fully for moral purposes, like an ordinary adult human being. In the equivocation objection to the argument from a right to life, "person" could have two different meanings: claim 1 uses "person" to mean "human being," while claim 2 uses "person" to mean "moral person".

3. Read
   Abortion | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy · iep.utm.edu · 35 min read

   In debates about abortion, whether a fetus is a human person depends on empirical findings and moral claims. The potentiality argument asks whether the fetus is potentially a human person and thus should be protected.

4. Watch
   

   Abortion and Personhood: What the Moral Dilemma Is Really About | Glenn Cohen | Big Think · YouTube · 7 min watch

   Harvard Law Professor and bioethicist Glenn Cohen explains that deciding whether abortion is immoral raises the question of whether fetuses are persons. He discusses how determining personhood requires distinguishing a person from a human being and from being alive, and says some scholars consider stem cells and embryos human beings but not persons.

5. Book
   

   The Cider House Rules · Bookshop.org

   The Cider House Rules by John Irving follows Homer Wells, trained by Dr. Wilbur Larch to assist with deliveries and take in unwanted babies, but not illegal abortions, while Larch cares for troubled mothers seeking his help. Their choices show a conflict over how a physician and his protégé respond to unwanted pregnancies.

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