philosophy：Contemporary Moral Problems

1. Does Hursthouse believe that having a right to abortion means one cannot be morally wrong for acting on that right? Explain. Do you agree with her?

 

2. What significance do “the familiar biological facts” (about pregnancy) have for the morality of abortion?

 

3. Does Hursthouse think that the reasons which make abortion right or wrong are the same reasons why other cases of killing are right or wrong? Explain. Do you think her argument shows Marquis argument to be flawed?

 

4. In your own words, what does Hursthouse think about the relation between “having a right” and “doing the right thing?”

 

5. Based on her virtue-oriented perspective, why does Hursthouse deny that having an abortion means failing to grasp what life should be about? By the same token, why does she deny that valuing children entails thinking that those who choose not to are selfish?

 

6. Why does Hursthouse suggest that even when an abortion is the best course of action, there is still a sense in which having it is wrong?

 

7. Why would it be wrong to assert that for Hursthouse, abortion is exclusively or even primarily a matter of women’s rights?