"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 critique of abortion’s
own terms. Finally he
considers several pro-life arguments that do not depend
on claims that the fetus has a right to life and concludes that these too
are ultimately unsuccessful.
This major book will be especially helpful to those teaching
applied ethics and bioethics in philosophy departments or professional schools
of law and medicine.
It will interest students of women studies and general
readers for whom abortion remains a high-profile issue."
You can download a copy of the table of contents and chapter 1 (in pdf format) by clicking here .
2. what people have said about the book
The following quotes are also from the jacket copy:
"Boonin gives a persuasive interpretation and development
of Judith Jarvis Thomson’s good-samaritan argument. He dispatches with great
authority Don Marquis’s
future-like-ours argument. This original and carefully
argued book will revitalize the abortion controversy."
-- Bonnie Steinbock, State University
of New York, Albany
"I have never read a better examination of all the
arguments that have been raised against abortion. Nor have I read a better
series of counter arguments against
each of these arguments."
-- Rosemarie Tong, University of
North Carolina, Charlotte