title: Critical notice--defending life: a moral and legal case against abortion choice by Francis J Beckwith.
abstract: Francis Beckwith's Defending life: a moral and legal case against abortion choice defends the pro-life position on moral, legal and political grounds. In this critical notice I consider three key issues and argue that Beckwith's treatment of each of them is unpersuasive. The issues are: (1) whether abortion is politically justified by the principle that we should err on the side of liberty in the face of reasonable disagreement over the moral status of the fetus; (2) whether the fetus's natural capacity or genetic propensity to develop rationality and communication is sufficient to give it a moral right to life; and (3) whether abortion is morally justified on the basis of bodily rights. I also show that Beckwith's book fails to consider several important issues and arguments.
authors.affiliation: dean_stretton@hotmail.com
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stretton
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000941:ethics* / Q000523:psychology; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D028723:Personhood; D011247:Pregnancy; D026712:Value of Life