Question

Would a Kantian and a natural law theorist agree on whether having an abortion is moral? Why or why not?

Answer 1

• One of Kant’s most lasting contributions to philosophy was in the field of ethics. He believed that moral laws could be derived from reason, and that all immoral behavior was, therefore, unreasonable or irrational.Kant argued for the idea of the categorical imperative, a law of morality that all humans have a duty to obey. His first formulation of this categorical imperative is the following: “Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” Kant believed that all moral duties could be deduced from this categorical imperative.
• Kant would say to the woman who wants to have an abortion: “Can you will that every other woman would have an abortion when she is pregnant?” If the woman says “yes,” then abortion is moral. If she says “no,” then abortion cannot be moral.
  
• Again, according to Kant, abortion would be immoral because it would be irrational to will that every pregnant woman have an abortion. The act of every pregnant woman aborting the fetus inside her would, ultimately, end abortion, which is completely irrational.
• Kant would be surely against the abortion, with no doubt.The body should not be confused with the free being present in the fetus. Although the fetus is not able to exercise his autonomy and reason yet, the body belongs to a rational being that is already a person and should be treated with respect to his dignity.
• Natural law theorists believe that human laws are defined by morality, and not by an authority figure, like a king or a government. Therefore, we humans are guided by our human nature to figure out what the laws are, and to act in conformity with those laws.
• The Pro-life argument is against abortion. People for this argument believe that the mother has no right to take away the life of an innocent baby.
• The Pro-Choice argument is for abortion. People for this argument think women should have the right to choose, for themselves, whether they want to abort the fetus or not.
• First, to them there is no question about the moral status of the fetus: it is a person with full moral rights.
• Second, the theory is very clear about the treatment of innocent persons: it is always morally wrong to directly kill the innocent.
• Intentionally killing a fetus, even to save the mother's life, is wrong according to the Natural Law theory. But, there is an exception. Curing a pregnant woman's cancer by way of chemotherapy or a hysterectomy may be morally acceptable. This is because the fetus being aborted is an unintended side effect.
• According to Natural Law Theory abortion is not permissible.