A consequentialist or utilitarian is likely to approach the abortion question in a very different way, by trying to weigh up suffering. Does the embryo suffer? (Presumably not if it is aborted before it has a nervous system; and even if it is old enough to have a nervous system it surely suffers less than, say, an adult cow in a slaughterhouse.) Does the pregnant woman, or her family, suffer if she does not have an abortion? Very possibly so; and, in any case,given that the embryo lacks a nervous system, shouldn't the mother's well-developed nervous system have the choice?

The God Delusion On page 285 Monday, November 5, 2012 @ 1:54pm | Modified