Reading guide for “Why Abortion is Immoral” by Don Marquis

Word process your responses.

1. Write the reference entry for Marquis’s essay.

2. What is the premise of the essay?

3. How does Marquis explain the positions of most anti-abortionists and pro-abortionists?

4. Explain how Marquis distinguishes between biological and moral categories.

5. Define Feinberg’s commonsense personhood and explain how Marquis argues against this

concept.

6. Why is killing us wrong?

7. List the two considerations that support the claim that killing us is wrong.

8. How do these considerations apply to species from another planet?

9. How do these considerations apply to the concept of euthanasia?

10. Does Marquis believe that killing infants and children is wrong? Why or why not?

11. Explain how the concept of a future-like-ours applies to abortion.

12. Describe the desire account. The discontinuation account. Explain why Marquis finds both

accounts insufficient as arguments against abortion.

13. Skim the paragraphs about Tooley, Stevens, and Bassen’s arguments. We will discuss them

in class.

14. Explain why Marquis doesn’t argue that contraception is immoral.

15. How does Marquis conclude that the issue of the ethics of abortion may be solved?