http://fakenous.net/?p=392
There is one thing that the extreme pro- and anti-abortion people can agree upon: that the issue is intellectually trivial, the correct answer blindingly obvious. They just disagree about which position is blindingly obvious and which stupidly evil.
I think the issue of abortion is difficult
Very few people think either that all fetuses have a right to life from the moment of conception, or that no fetuses have a right to life even one second before birth. Almost everyone has some intermediate position.
most “pro-life” people are people who draw the line relatively early, while “pro-choice” people draw it relatively laterWhich makes it bizarre that some people would think you are stupid or evil if you don’t draw the line in the same place they do
The moment when the fetus first has a heartbeatWhen the fetus becomes consciousSome say that the moment of conception is special, because it is at that point that there is first an entity with a genuine potential to become a person
Maybe potential personhood confers the same right to life as actual personhoodWhen the fetus acquires a soul Suppose we are highly uncertain whether abortion is seriously wrong. What should public policy then be? Two prima facie plausible arguments:It should be prohibited, because in general, if an action has a pretty good chance of killing some innocent people, that action will be prohibitedIt should be permitted, because in general, a person should only be legally punished when the state is pretty sure that person has done something wrong.
Visto che su quel fronte il dibattito sembra bloccato, propongo due schieramenti alternativi: chi trova questo dilemma etico “facile” da risolvere e chi invece lo trova “difficile”.
