PHLB09H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Zygote, Fetus, Cell Culture
Document Summary
Aaa (anti-abortion argument) rests on premise: fetus is person". Argument for this premise: assume growth continuous that leads us from the zygote to the adult, no precise point of personhood, infers personhood begins at start. Bad premise: rejects vagueness for lack of precision. Because we don"t have a precision, we have to make a stand that perception starts at conception: acorns aren"t oaks. Grant premise why infer abortion wrong: imagine: Kidnapped, connected to unconscious adult with fatal kidney ailment. Your kidneys will sustain him for 9 months, or he"ll die. Counterargument 1: mother who can"t survive pregnancy: Worse to kill fetus than let mother die. But then wrong for mother to save herself. Denise her personhood granted to fetus: two lives: Doesn"t follow threatened person can"t defend herself. Permissible to save mother, but can"t be performed by third party: but if third party can"t decide:
