The Ethics of Abortion and the Normative Significance of Parenthood

Abstract

This thesis demonstrates the ethical relevance of parenthood, understood as a morally significant relationship, to thinking about the ethics of abortion to support an account of the moral permissibility of abortion and impermissibility of certain instances of infanticide through the lens of parenthood. It does so by showing how failure to attend to the normative significance of parenthood leads to problems, how these problems are addressed once this normative significance is recognized, defending this from objections, and presenting objections against anti-abortion positions.

Typically, questions about the ethics of abortion narrowly focus on the term of pregnancy, and thus narrowly on ethical considerations present between conception and birth. Traditionally, the ethical considerations that have received the most attention are the right to life and the right to bodily autonomy. However, there are further ethical considerations importantly relevant to the ethics of abortion beyond those present during the term of pregnancy. There are also importantly relevant post-birth consequences. Chief among the ethically relevant post-birth consequences is the undertaking of parenthood, and the moral right to choose parenthood, which is people's right to the autonomy to make the choices and decisions relevant to the process of undertaking the project of parenthood and becoming a parent where this right includes the right to make choices and decisions concerning beginning, continuing, or terminating the process of undertaking parenthood and becoming a parent.

The ethical importance of parenthood is shown in a few ways. The right to choose parenthood can serve as a basis for an argument for the moral permissibility of abortion. Also, theorizing about abortion in terms of a right to choose parenthood allows for problematic analogies between abortion an infanticide to be dealt with such that it can be maintained that abortion is morally permissible, but infanticide is not. The ability to address the problem of analogies between abortion and infanticide demonstrates why the moral permissibility of abortion should be viewed through the lens of parenthood.