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biomedical ethics (abortion (22 weeks - 20-30% can survive outside the…
biomedical ethics
abortion
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- grave permanent injury to physical / mental health of women
3 weeks since conception, foetus' heart starts to beat
- risk to life of pregnant woman
- substantial risk the child would be significantly handicapped
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200,000 abortions happen in UK every year
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in UK, 2 doctors consent is always required
virtue ethics: killing is a vice, so it would depend on when it becomes killing
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- genetically + morally distinct human life - same moral status
- woman has rights over her own body, but that doesn't outweigh the foetus' rights to life
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- right to life depends on self-awareness/ consciousness
- foetus is human in genetic sense (member of human species)
- not human in a moral sense (not member of moral community)
- foetus = human but not person (lacks self-awareness + moral agency)
Michael Tooley - in order to have a right to life, one must be able to formulate a desire for continued existence
euthanasia
legalised in the netherlands, belgium, columbia + luxemburg
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in UK, suicide act 1961 legalised attempt to take one's life but illegal to assist in another's death
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assisted suicide legalised in switzerland, germany, japan, canada + us states (Washington, oregon, vermont, montana + california)
- otherwise families wouldn't call ambulance / go to A+E if the individual faces prosecution
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