Jane English: “The Moderate Position: Beyond the Personhood Argument”

The “Conservative” position: 

1.  “life begins” at conception (i.e., all fetuses are persons)

2. Therefore abortion is murder. 

BUT: even if the first is true, the second doesn’t follow, because not all 
killings are murder.

The “Liberal” position: 
1.
“life begins” at birth (i.e., no fetuses are persons)

2.  Therefore “a woman may do whatever she pleases in and to her own
body.”

BUT: 
a) you cannot do what you like to your body if it affects others adversely
b) even if a fetus is not a person, that doesn’t mean it has no moral standing
Can this debate be solved by setting a point at which the fetus becomes a
person? English thinks not, and in section I, argues that it is impossible to
draw a precise line of personhood. But, in sections II and III, argues that you
can settle some issues without deciding the personhood issue.

I. Personhood indefinable [817]

“A “person” is a cluster of features, of which rationality, having a selfconcept and being conceived by humans are only part.” [818]  

All sorts of factors are part of what we regard as typical of persons –
biological, psychological, “rationality”, social, legal.

Conservatives want to show that foetuses have a sufficient condition for 
being a person, Liberals that they lack a necessary condition. Are there any
such conditions that we can agree on? Yes (sufficient – being a US senator,
necessary – being alive), but none that obviously apply to foetuses.

This explains why there’s so much disagreement through the ages about 
when personhood happens [819]

II. Abortion permissible even if fetus a person [820]

Killing persons is allowed in self-defense, so if any abortions are analogous to 
permissible self-defense killings, they too would be permissible.

Example 1: 
Mad scientist hypnotizes innocent people to jump out of the bushes and
attack passers-by with knives.

What is each feature analogous to?
a) the passers-by would be the pregnant woman
b) the hypnotized attackers are the fetus, provided it threatens the mother’s
life
c) the mad scientist? Fate/nature?

Rules for self-defense: 
1. Degree of harm that you inflict is affected by the degree of threat –
“you may not shoot someone merely to avoid having your clothes
torn” [820]
2. Whether or not you can inflict harm depends on whether or not there
are alternatives ‘ “you are not justified in shooting him if you could
equally well save yourself by…running away” [820-1]

Other examples [822]: 

Highly trained surgeon is threatened with having her knowledge blocked
(English says this justifies killing the hypnotized kidnapper)

Kidnappers only operate at night
o you must stay home, otherwise you’re responsible (abstinence
view)
o you must take mace, or you’re responsible (contraception okay,
but no abortion if it fails)
o you can only kill if you’re threatened with death (abortion only
to save life of mother)
o you can kill attacker for any reason (abortion justifiable on
demand)

Conclusion: self-defense justifies abortion even if the foetus is a person, but
doesn’t justify infanticide.  

III. Not all abortions permissible even if fetus not a person [823]

English’s “coherence of attitudes” view:

 “It is crucial that psychological facts play a role here. Our psychological
constitution makes it the case that for our ethical theory to work, it must
prohibit certain treatment of non-persons which are significantly personlike.” [824-5]
What this means: “it is those animals whose appearance and behavior are
most like those of people that get the most consideration in our moral
scheme” [825]

This means that the similarity of a late-term fetus to a newborn baby is 
significant. [“horror story” of nurses in NY – 825]

Thus: abortion is okay in the early stages, but not in the later stages: 
“In the early stages of pregnancy, abortion can hardly be compared to
murder for psychological reasons, but in the latest stages it is
psychologically akin to murder.” [825]

Conclusions [827]:

1. “The application of our concept of a person will not…settle the 
abortion issue”
2. “Whether a fetus is a person or not, abortion is justifiable early in
pregnancy to avoid modest harms and seldom justifiable late in
pregnancy except to avoid significant injury or death”