The Ethics of Abortion: New Arguments and New Insights to Old Arguments
A special issue of Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287). This special issue belongs to the section "Virtues".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 11485
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Abortion is a contemporary moral issue that remains a topic of theoretical ethical inquiry with far-reaching and grave practical consequences for society and individuals, particularly women. It is also a central moral issue that transcends disciplinary boundaries, involving health sciences, biology, political science, sociology, religion, legal studies, cultural studies, and contemporary women’s issues. While the geopolitical space and context is clearly relevant to the legal status of abortion, some question whether the moral issue is also subject to such geopolitical constraints. Much has already been written on the ethics of abortion, and there is a wide range of pro-choice and pro-life arguments that exists in print. Nevertheless, there is still much room for growth and progress in our understanding of this complex and nuanced moral issue. In addition, the evolution of the legal status of abortion has been considerable since Roe v. Wade, and yet, given the new conservative make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court, its future has never been more perilous and uncertain. As a consequence, the moral issue of abortion continues to be a relevent and timely moral issue.
This Special Issue of Philosophies invites contributions from philosophers and ethicists who desire to continue the dialogue, discussion, and argumentation over the moral issue of abortion, focusing on new arguments and original insights into old arguments. Our goal is to introduce new lines of thought that contribute original arguments to the ethics of abortion or original insights and responses to some of the most influential and prominent literature on this topic, such as Judith Jarvis Thomson’s A Defense of Abortion (1971); Michael Tooley’s Abortion and Infanticide (1972); Mary Anne Warren’s On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion (1973); R. M. Hare’s Abortion and the Golden Rule (1975); and Don Marquis’s Why Abortion is Immoral (1989), just to name a few. We are open to a wide array of topics in the ethics of abortion, including but not limited to the following: the metaphysical issue of personhood; the moral status of the fetus; pro-life and pro-choice arguments based on the potentiality of the fetus; feminist approaches to the abortion issue; abortion within the contexts of broader social, racial, and ethnic issues; a rights perspective to the abortion issue; killing and deprivation arguments on abortion; a virtue ethics approach to abortion; and personal identity arguments. Arguments that defend pro-choice and pro-life positions are welcome, as well as arguments that attempt to find a middle ground.
Prof. Dr. Bernie Cantens
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- abortion
- ethics of abortion
- pro-life
- pro-choice
- potentiality of the fetus
- deprivation argument
- personhood
- personal identity
- feminism and abortion
- moral status of the fetus
- women’s rights
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