Abortion: circumstances, the moral status of the unborn and personhood

Overview

Abortion as the term is used in ethics, four circumstances in which abortion is commonly requested and moral status of a being.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define abortion as the term is used in ethics.

   Model answer

   Abortion is the deliberate ending of a pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent survival.

2. 2

   Name four circumstances in which abortion is commonly requested.

   Model answer

   Abortion is commonly requested where the pregnancy threatens the woman's life or health, where the fetus has a serious abnormality, where the pregnancy resulted from rape, and where the woman's social or economic circumstances make continuing it very difficult.

3. 3

   What is meant by the moral status of a being?

   Model answer

   The moral status of a being is the extent to which it is owed moral consideration in its own right, rather than only for the sake of others.

4. 4

   State the conception criterion for moral status.

   Model answer

   The conception criterion holds that a new human individual with its own genetic identity exists from fertilisation, and so has full moral status from that moment.

5. 5

   Give one objection to the conception criterion.

   Model answer

   Critics point out that a very early embryo can still divide into twins or fail to implant, which they argue tells against treating fertilisation as the point at which one individual begins.

6. 6

   State the viability criterion.

   Model answer

   The viability criterion holds that moral status begins when the fetus could survive outside the womb, since only then is it a separate being rather than wholly dependent on one body.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.