Abortion
Abortion and the Law - UK: abortion is legal when:
• Two doctors agree
• The foetus is less than 24 weeks (point of viability)
• When there is a significant risk to the mothers life
• To prevent permanent physical or psychological harm to the mother or existing children
• When there is significant risk the baby being born with disabilities
• Abortion was legalised in the UK in 1968
• In 1990 the time limit for an abortion was changed to 24 weeks
When does an embryo or foetus become a ‘person’?
• Aquinas held that a foetus has a soul around 60-80 days after conception
• Some argue that the foetus has a soul when it is first felt to move (the quickening)
• UK law forbids abortion in most cases after 24 weeks - this is the point of ‘viability’ or when a
baby can survive outside of the uterus
• How should the life of the embryo be valued against the life of the mother?
• Is it only the mother who has a say in the decision to terminate a pregnancy?
Natural Law • Abortion at any stage fails all the tests for Aquinas’ natural law e.g. defending innocent
life and even worshipping God (goes against God as creator)
• Through the law of double effect an exception is made when a pregnancy threatens the
life of the mother (e.g. is ectopic). In this case medical treatment (a morally good action)
has an unintended bad consequence (killing an embryo)
• Human life is created imago dei so must not be destroyed at any stage
• Some have argued that as Aquinas states that the soul does not enter the body until 60-
80 days an early termination is permitted. However, Aquinas never makes this specific
point himself, indeed the position of the Catholic Church is strict, forbidding abortion
even in cases of rape and incest
Situation • Fletcher’s principles of pragmatism, relativism, positivism and personalism must be ap-
Ethics plied to all individual cases
• Fletcher cites a case study in 1962 of a mentally ill girl being raped by another patient in
a state mental hospital. The authorities refused an abortion as it was prohibited by law.
Fletcher questions “may we rightly…terminate, this pregnancy begun in an act of force
and violence by a mentally unbalanced rapist upon a frightened, mentally sick girl?”
• This example is quite extreme, the wider question remains - can an unwanted preg-
nancy be terminated - maybe knowing what the loving thing to do in each situation is im-
possible - cannot foresee future
Virtue Ethics • Aristotle states in Politics that if parents have too many children then it is permissible to
have an abortion “before sense and life have begun”
• With widespread availability of contraception, however, this use of abortion as a form of
family planning does seem to fall into the category of excess
• Personal dilemmas such as aboriton highlight the difficulties of applying virtue ethics;
Aristotle is not interested in what actions or decision we take, rather what kind of person
we should be
Abortion and the Law - UK: abortion is legal when:
• Two doctors agree
• The foetus is less than 24 weeks (point of viability)
• When there is a significant risk to the mothers life
• To prevent permanent physical or psychological harm to the mother or existing children
• When there is significant risk the baby being born with disabilities
• Abortion was legalised in the UK in 1968
• In 1990 the time limit for an abortion was changed to 24 weeks
When does an embryo or foetus become a ‘person’?
• Aquinas held that a foetus has a soul around 60-80 days after conception
• Some argue that the foetus has a soul when it is first felt to move (the quickening)
• UK law forbids abortion in most cases after 24 weeks - this is the point of ‘viability’ or when a
baby can survive outside of the uterus
• How should the life of the embryo be valued against the life of the mother?
• Is it only the mother who has a say in the decision to terminate a pregnancy?
Natural Law • Abortion at any stage fails all the tests for Aquinas’ natural law e.g. defending innocent
life and even worshipping God (goes against God as creator)
• Through the law of double effect an exception is made when a pregnancy threatens the
life of the mother (e.g. is ectopic). In this case medical treatment (a morally good action)
has an unintended bad consequence (killing an embryo)
• Human life is created imago dei so must not be destroyed at any stage
• Some have argued that as Aquinas states that the soul does not enter the body until 60-
80 days an early termination is permitted. However, Aquinas never makes this specific
point himself, indeed the position of the Catholic Church is strict, forbidding abortion
even in cases of rape and incest
Situation • Fletcher’s principles of pragmatism, relativism, positivism and personalism must be ap-
Ethics plied to all individual cases
• Fletcher cites a case study in 1962 of a mentally ill girl being raped by another patient in
a state mental hospital. The authorities refused an abortion as it was prohibited by law.
Fletcher questions “may we rightly…terminate, this pregnancy begun in an act of force
and violence by a mentally unbalanced rapist upon a frightened, mentally sick girl?”
• This example is quite extreme, the wider question remains - can an unwanted preg-
nancy be terminated - maybe knowing what the loving thing to do in each situation is im-
possible - cannot foresee future
Virtue Ethics • Aristotle states in Politics that if parents have too many children then it is permissible to
have an abortion “before sense and life have begun”
• With widespread availability of contraception, however, this use of abortion as a form of
family planning does seem to fall into the category of excess
• Personal dilemmas such as aboriton highlight the difficulties of applying virtue ethics;
Aristotle is not interested in what actions or decision we take, rather what kind of person
we should be
