Right to Life and Right to a Child

Past Exam Questions

      1    (a) Explain how a follower of Kant would approach issues surrounding the right to a
child [25]

            (b) “The right to a child is an absolute right” Discuss [10]

2     (a) Explain how the ethics of the religion you have studied might approach issues

              surrounding euthanasia. [25]

            (b) “Religious ethics leaves no room for compassionate treatment of the dying” [10]

      3    (a) Explain religious objections to euthanasia. [25]

            (b) “Religious objections to euthanasia ignore human dignity” [10]

      4    (a) “Explain what is meant by the sanctity of life” [25]

            (b) “The concept of the sanctity of life is not helpful in understanding the issues
surrounding euthanasia”. Discuss [10]

 

Points Summary: Right to Life

·         Corresponds to the duty of others not to kill the person in questions

·         Duty of “do not kill” is not taken as an absolute; self defence; voluntary euthanasia

·         BUT life is precious, valued and this raises issues for many people

·         Euthanasia and Suicide; the deliberate termination of one’s own life is hard for many people to understand

o        Some say it demeans life and denies it meaning, making family trivial

o        It breaks the natural cycle of life and death; breaks the bond between man and God

o        Henry Sidgwick  argues only conscious beings appreciate the values of life so suicide is a statement of a conscious intelligent being about the meaningless of their life

o        Aquinas; suicide is an unnatural act and rejection of God’s gift of an immortal soul.

o        State has an idea of protecting people from themselves; treat people as possessions.

o        It is a free act, serving no social ends, values or structures, unlike martyrdom, war or rescue service

·         Euthanasia and Personal Autonomy

o        Mill says individuals should have full autonomy in matters that don’t concern others; a competent person should be able to decide for themselves

o        Netherlands and Belgium allow and socially accept euthanasia, as long as the patient has a sound mind and repeatedly requests death

o        Causes issue of clouded judgement, and the question of is it an easy way out for the family?

·         Killing and Letting Die

o        There is a right not to be killed but no right to have one’s life saved

o        James Rachels believes passive euthanasia is worse as it prolongs pain, yet ends up with the same conclusion as active euthanasia

o        Slippery Slope argument – other laws will be broken until there are no moral absolutes; devalues life.

Points Summary: Right to a Child

·         First test tube baby was Louise Brown, born UK 1978.

·         The issues of this have become more relevant as technology has improved

·         Issues include whether a child is a gift or a right; whether it is a gift to get sperm samples from masturbation; whether it is right to pay someone to carry a child.

·         Problem is that the techniques involve a third part in the relationship brings possible physical risks to the unborn child.

·         IVF: what is it?

o        Intention of overcoming common problem of infertility, can be seen as a practical solution to a medical problem.

o        Different forms; AIH (Artificial Insemination but the husband – sperm injected into the woman), AID (a donor sperm is used), IVF (In-Vitro fertilisation, out of the body).

·         Embryo’s are treated as property.

·         Screening embryos means imperfections can be removed; lead to parents choosing designer babies and discrimination.

·         Quick, easy way to fix the problem of infertility so less research into the causes of miscarriages and infertility.

·         Older women will be able to have children; women who want to put their career first and save children for later in life.

·         In India, IVF clinics already allow sex selection and discard female embryos.

Quotes

·         “Birth, rather than some earlier point, marks the beginning if true moral status.” Mary Anne Warren

·         “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.” Humanae Vitae (Roman Catholic Church)

·         “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139

·         “God created humankind in his image.” Genesis 1

·         “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20

·         ”We do not believe that the right to life, as a right pertaining to persons, admits of no exceptions whatever; but the right of the innocent admits surely of few exceptions indeed.” Abortion and the Church

·         “The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which (a citizen) is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute.” J.S.Mill On Liberty

·         ”Over himself, over his body and mind, the individual is sovereign.” J.S.Mill On Liberty

·         “Any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful suicide” are crimes condemned by the Roman Catholic Church

·         “As a Christian and a theologian I am convinced that the all-merciful God, who has given men and women freedom and responsibility for their lives, has also left to dying people the responsibility for making a conscientious decision about the manner and time of their deaths.” Hans Kung

·         “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”

·         “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” UN Declaration of Human Rights

·         “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Samuel Adams, Politician of the American Revolution

·         “The people have a right to the truth as they have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Epictetus, Greek Philosopher, related to the stoics

·         “Every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity.” Pope John XXIII

·         “The evidence of the natural rights of expatriation International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the pursuit of happiness, is not left to the feeble and sophistical.” Thomas Jefferson

·         “What is intrinsically valuable is what we are; what we are are human physical organisms; human physical organisms come to be at conception; therefore, what is intrinsically valuable comes to be at conception.” Patrick Lee from St. Anselm’s College

·         “By demeaning life, we demean truth.” Doerflinger

 Issues

·         A Doctor may be happy to let a person die, withdraw treatment or assist suicide, but the idea of a duty to kill at a patients request is not so acceptable.

·         What is the status of the embryo – can it have “rights” and when does human life start?

·         What happens with the spare embryos which may be kept 14 days for experimentation? (Moral issue of embryo wastage)

·         When do foetuses feel pain?

·         Is it right to take the life of a being who has the potential to grow into one of us? Who are we to know whether if the child was allowed to be born, they would find a cure for the worst diseases known to man.

Note: an embryo is a fertilised egg, and a foetus a fertilised egg growing in the womb.  Embryos can exist in test-tubes; foetuses can’t.