David Boonin - A Defense of Abortion

David Boonin has written the most thorough and detailed case for the moral permissibility of abortion yet published. Critically examining a wide range of arguments that attempt to prove that every human fetus has a right to life, he shows that each of these arguments fails on its own terms. He then explains how even if the fetus does have a right to life, abortion can still be shown to be morally permissible on the critic of abortion's own terms. Finally, he considers several arguments against abortion that do not depend on the claim that the fetus has a right to life - arguments based on the golden rule, on principles of uncertainty, or on various feminist theories - and concludes that these, too, are ultimately unsuccessful.

This major book will be especially helpful to those teaching applied ethics and bioethics whether in philosophy departments or professional schools of law and medicine. It will also interest students of women's studies as well as all general readers for whom abortion remains a highprofile and complex issue.

David Boonin is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

General editor: Douglas MacLean, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Other books in series

Mark Sagoff: The Economy of the Earth

Henry Shue (ed.): Nuclear Deterrence and Moral Restraint

Judith Lichtenberg (ed.): Democracy and Mass Media

William Galston: Liberal Purposes

Elaine Draper: Risky Business

R. G. Frey and Christopher W. Morris: Violence, Terrorism, and Justice

Douglas Husak: Drugs and Rights

Ferdinand Schoeman: Privacy and Social Freedom

Dan Brock: Life and Death

Paul B. Thompson: The Ethics of Aid and Trade

Jeremy Waldron: Liberal Rights

Steven Lee: Morality, Prudence, and Nuclear Weapons

Robert Goodin: Utilitarianism as a Public Policy

Bernard Rollin: The Frankenstein Syndrome

Robert K. Fullinwider (ed.): Public Education in a Multicultural Society

John Kleinig: The Ethics of Policing

Norman Daniels: Justice and justification

James P. Sterba: Justice for Here and Now

Erik Nord: Cost-Value Analysis in Health Care

David Wasserman and Robert Wachbroit (eds.): Genetics and Criminal Behavior

DAVID BOONIN

University of Colorado, Boulder