Deck 46: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion Mary Anne Warren

Question 1

Warren claims that abortion is

A) immoral and ought to be illegal.
B) immoral but should not be illegal.
C) morally permissible but ought to be illegal.
D) morally permissible and should not be legally prohibited.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following does the fetus not possess according to Warren?

A) Potential personhood
B) Genetic humanity
C) Membership in the moral community
D) All of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following objections does Warren make to Thomson's violinist analogy?

A) It implies that abortion is always morally permissible.
B) In most cases of unwanted pregnancy, it is far from clear that the woman bears no responsibility for her predicament.
C) It fails to take into account pregnancies that endanger the life of the woman.
D) It does not give serious enough consideration to the violinist's right to life.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What Warren calls "the standard anti-abortion argument" relies on the premise that

A) all life is sacred.
B) fetuses are human beings.
C) abortion is murder.
D) women are morally responsible for their pregnancies.

Question 5

The concept "personhood" implies which of the following characteristics?

A) Sentience
B) Emotionality
C) The capacity to communicate
D) All of the above

Question 6

What does Warren mean by "moral agency"?

A) The body responsible for setting the ethical priorities and policies of an institution
B) An entity's entitlement to be recognized as possessing certain basic rights
C) An entity's capacity to regulate its own actions through moral principles or ideals
D) An entity's capacity to conceive itself as a member of a social group

Question 7

Regarding the six primary criteria of personhood, Warren argues that

A) all must be present for an entity to be considered a person.
B) the more that are satisfied, the more confidently we can consider an entity a person.
C) if any one is present, an entity ought to be considered a person.
D) it is necessary to define them precisely if they are to be of any use in the argument against abortion.

Question 8

Warren argues that the meaning of "human being" is ambiguous as between two senses:

A) moral and legal.
B) ethical and social.
C) genetic and moral.
D) cultural and moral.

Question 9

Which of the following acts would Warren see as the least morally serious?

A) Killing an early-term fetus
B) Killing a late-term fetus
C) Killing a dolphin
D) Killing an adult who had lost all capacity for reason

Question 10

Warren argues that, as a potential person, a fetus

A) has no right to life whatsoever.
B) is not subject to the desires of the mother if it can be aborted without being harmed or harming her.
C) has most of the defining features of personhood, but not enough to possess a right to life.
D) has a strong right to life that is outweighed by the mother's right to self-defense.

Question 11

According to Warren, to persuade abortion opponents to change their position, it is necessary to refute the argument that fetuses are members of the human moral community.

Question 12

Warren believes that if a fetus has a strong right to life, then abortion is almost always morally impermissible.

Question 13

Warren claims that abortion can be shown to be morally permissible, even on the assumption that a fetus is a human being with a strong right to life.

Question 14

According to Warren, a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy depends upon the extent of her responsibility for getting pregnant.

Question 15

Warren believes that it is permissible for a woman to deny her fetus the use of her body to survive even when she is responsible for its existence.

Question 16

Warren argues that the moral community consists of all genetically human entities.

Question 17

Warren identifies six basic criteria of personhood, all of which she believes an entity must possess to be granted membership in the moral community.

Question 18

Warren argues that a fetus possesses none of the six basic criteria of personhood.

Question 19

Warren claims that the rights of an actual person outweigh the rights of a merely potential person whenever the two conflict.

Question 20

According to Warren, a merely potential person has no right to life.

Question 21

Does the question of abortion's moral status hinge on whether a fetus is considered a person? In your answer, be sure to explain what you mean by "person" and compare your view to those of Warren and Thomson.

Question 22

What standard anti-abortion argument does Warren discuss? What is her objection to this argument? Do you think it is a good one?

Question 23

What does Warren think Thomson's violinist case is capable of proving? What criticisms does she raise for Thomson's position? Do you agree with her assessment?

Question 24

What is the moral community, and who does Warren think belongs to it? What reasons does she give for her view? Do you find her account compelling? Why or why not?