The document discusses different perspectives on personhood and abortion. It outlines common pro-life and pro-choice slogans, and explores assumptions behind these slogans. It also examines points in development that personhood may be attained, such as conception, birth, or after birth. The document references arguments that killing disabled infants or fetuses with disabilities is not wrong and can increase total happiness. It questions at what point a fetus or newborn becomes an individual capable of having a life of its own.

1. Pro-Life Slogans & Personhood I. Pro-life slogans A. “Life begins at conception” ASSUMES…. B. “Abortion is murder” ASSUMES…. II. Why we have to discuss personhood A. Warren’s two senses of personhood B. Thompson’s attempt to bypass personhood III. Points of Personhood?

2. Points of Personhood Conception Birth Church Twinning Supreme Ct. Warren

3. “… there should be at least some circumstances in which a full legal right to life comes into force not at birth, but only a short time after birth—perhaps a month.” [ Practical Ethics, 1993, p. 172] “ When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed. The loss of happy life for the first infant is outweighed by the gain of a happier life for the second. Therefore, if killing the haemophiliac infant has no adverse effect on others, it would … be right to kill him.” [p. 186] “ The same can be said about some other conditions that can be detected before birth. Down’s syndrome … is one of these.” [p. 187] “ Neither the fetus nor the newborn infant is an individual capable of regarding itself as a distinct entity with a life of its own to lead, and it is only for newborn infants, or for still earlier stages of human life, that replaceability should be considered to be an ethically acceptable option. It may still be objected that to replace either a fetus or a newborn infant is wrong because it suggests to disabled people living today that their lives are less worth living than the lives of people who are not disabled. Yet it is surely flying in the face of reality to deny that, on average, this is so.” [p. 188] “ Nevertheless, the main point is clear: killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often it is not wrong at all.” [p. 191]

4. Pro-Choice Slogans I. Pro-choice slogans A. “The woman should be able to do with her own body whatever she wants” ASSUMES…. B. “Abortion is a woman’s free choice. Women have the right to choose” ASSUMES…. II. What moral or legal restrictions does society place over what people can do with/to their own bodies? III. Sidney Callahan: Pro- life feminism IV> Daniel Callahan: Attempting to strengthen the Pro-choice position