On Feb 4, 2008, at 7:11 PM, John Thornton wrote:
> C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>> The discussion of the ethics and politics of abortion doesn't seem
>> to me
>> to depend on theism. There are of course many theists who consider
>> abortion ethical, and there are opponents of abortion who are not
>> theists (e.g., Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice).
>>
>> Probably the most influential non-theistic argument against
>> abortion was
>> set out in an article by Donald Marquis, "Why Abortion is
>> Immoral," The
>> Journal of Philosophy (86:4). It's not online, but you can find
>> it if
>> you have access to a library with JSTOR; here are a couple of
>> summaries:
>>
>> http://jme.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/6/363
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/abortion/philosophical/
>> future.shtml
>>
>> I must say that friends who've had abortions have almost always said
>> that they couldn't afford to have a child, either literally or
>> career-wise. Their experience was that they had no choice, even
>> though
>> they were relatively privileged people.
>>
>> A corollary of Marquis' argument would therefore seem to me to be
>> support for universal health care (not just insurance, of course),
>> guaranteed annual income, housing, eduction, etc. In fact, if you're
>> opposed to abortion (as I am), then you have to be a socialist. --
>> CGE
>>
>
> Marquis is so full of crap I can smell him from the next state over.
> Perhaps the people who claim they cannot afford to have a child are
> simply parroting a social norm that says this is an acceptable
> reason to
> have an abortion rather than stating their true feelings that they
> simply don't wish to have one at this time because they don't wish to
> take on the burden of parenthood.
> It is a necessary precondition for people to be free to be able to
> state
> the reason they wish to have an abortion is no ones business and
> correspondingly not be socially ostracized for stating. Only then will
> women be really free in their choice to procreate or not.
> It's quite possible and rational to oppose abortion and oppose
> socialism. Millions of people do exactly that.
>
> John Thornton
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