Abortion Through a Feminist Ethics Lens.

 Your textbook writer includes an essay at the end of the chapter by Susan Sherwin entitled “Abortion Through a Feminist Ethics Lens.” In it, Sherwin argues that non-feminist theories only look at the moral status of the

embryo/fetus instead of considering the pregnant woman and her lived experience. One page 371, she writes “Although I think that it is possible for a woman to make a mistake in her moral judgment on this matter . . ., the intimate nature of this sort of decision makes it unlikely that anyone else is in a position to arrive at a more reliable conclusion . …” Discuss whether

you think the focus in the abortion discussion should be more on the pregnant women themselves and how they are affected. Discuss what you think the consequences might be for not letting women make autonomous

decisions about their own health and bodies. 

u Course Section | Saint Paul College Bookstore Bioethics ,_ __giumagar UllBllldllUll, UI tIIU UIIUUtB Ul ouruu UladUIllly. 0th.}. fimg Q. knecessary option for many women if they are to + _ i Q] © . __.LW… conditions of poverty. __. _._..__nl_c___ Whatever the reason. most feminists believe that a pregnant woman is in the best position to judge whether abortion is the appropriate response to her circumstances. Since she is usually the only one able to weigh all the relevant factors, most feminists reject attempts to offer any general abstract rules for determining when abortion is morally justified. Women’s personal deliberations about abortion include contextually definerfl considerations reflecting their commitment to the needs and interests of everyone concerned —including herself. the letus,she carries. other members of her household, etc. Because there is no single formula available for balancing these complex factors through all possible cases. it is vital that feminists insist on protecting each woman’s right to come to her own conclusions. Abortion decisions are, by their very nature. dependent on specific features of each woman’s experience: theoretically dispassionate philosophers and other moralists should not expect to set the agenda for these considerations in any universal way. Women must be acknowledged as full moral agents ‘ onsibility for making moral decisions about their own pregnanc 5.2 Although i think that it is possible for a woman to make a mistake in her more n this matter (i.e.. it is possible that a woman may come to believe that she was wrong about her decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy), the intimate nature of this sort of decision makes it unlikely that anyone else is in a position to arrive at a more reliable conclusion; it is. therefore. improper to grant others the authority to interfere in women’s decisions to seek abortions. |u£’d|