Abortion

(This section needs elaboration.)

Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. There are currently significant debates over the morality of abortion, and these debates are active even within the radical feminist community. The aim of this page is to critically examine some of the most popular pro-life arguments, and to provide one radical feminist response to that argument, as well as responses to popular pro-life counter critiques.

The Pro-life Position

The pro-life (anti-abortion) position is typically framed as some variation of the following syllogism:

An embryo or fetus is a human life. Taking a human life is morally wrong. Therefore, abortion is morally wrong.

Pro-choice Responses

(This section needs elaboration.) Philosophical responses to the pro-life position generally take one of two forms. The first relies on the right of a woman to bodily autonomy, which feminists argue supersedes the right of a fetus to life. The second response directly critiques the pro-life argument itself, in particular the concept of fetal or embryonic personhood.