Abortion and Euthanasia (Medical Ethics) Quotes

[blank_start]Job[blank_end] [blank_start]1:21[blank_end] - "Naked I came from my mother's [blank_start]womb[blank_end], and naked shall I [blank_start]return[blank_end] there; the Lord [blank_start]gave[blank_end], and the Lord has [blank_start]taken away[blank_end]; [blank_start]blessed[blank_end] be the name of the Lord."

"We may take the [blank_start]doctrine[blank_end] of the [blank_start]sanctity[blank_end] of human life to be no more than a way of saying that human life has some very [blank_start]special[blank_end] value [...] " - [blank_start]Peter[blank_end] [blank_start]Singer[blank_end] #1

"It is [blank_start]perverse[blank_end] to seek a sense of ethical [blank_start]purity[blank_end] when it is gained at the [blank_start]expense[blank_end] of the [blank_start]suffering[blank_end] of others." - Tony [blank_start]Hope[blank_end]

Jeremiah [blank_start]1:5[blank_end] - "Before I [blank_start]formed[blank_end] you in the [blank_start]womb[blank_end] [blank_start]I knew you[blank_end]."

Psalm [blank_start]139:13[blank_end] - "For it was you who [blank_start]formed[blank_end] my [blank_start]inward[blank_end] parts; you [blank_start]knit[blank_end] me together in my mother's womb."

Luke [blank_start]1:44[blank_end] - "For as soon as I heard the [blank_start]sound[blank_end] of your [blank_start]greeting[blank_end], the child in my womb [blank_start]leaped[blank_end] for [blank_start]joy[blank_end]."

"Once a new human [blank_start]individual[blank_end] comes into existence she will gradually move from a [blank_start]potential[blank_end] or [blank_start]preperson[blank_end] into an [blank_start]actual[blank_end] person when she becomes capable of [blank_start]valuing[blank_end] her own existence. And it is very difficult to say [blank_start]precisely[blank_end] when this is. [...] - John [blank_start]Harris[blank_end] (1995) (philosopher) #1

" [...] And if eventually she [blank_start]permanently[blank_end] [blank_start]loses[blank_end] this [blank_start]capacity[blank_end], she will have [blank_start]ceased[blank_end] to be a [blank_start]person[blank_end]." - [blank_start]John[blank_end] Harris (1995) (philosopher) - [blank_start]Euthanasia[blank_end] and the Value of Life - #2

"A human being is a [blank_start]person[blank_end] because the [blank_start]kind[blank_end] to which he belongs is [blank_start]characterised[blank_end] by a [blank_start]rational[blank_end] [blank_start]nature[blank_end]. Thus we have the same [blank_start]individual[blank_end], and hence the same person when we have the same human being." - Elizabeth [blank_start]Anscombe[blank_end]

(True to a point:) "a [blank_start]right[blank_end] to [blank_start]decide[blank_end] what happens in and to [our] body" - [blank_start]Judith[blank_end] [blank_start]Jarvis[blank_end] [blank_start]Thomson[blank_end] (19[blank_start]71[blank_end]) - A [blank_start]Defense[blank_end] of Abortion

(BUT:) "after all the [blank_start]child[blank_end]'s [blank_start]body[blank_end] is the [blank_start]child[blank_end]'s [blank_start]body[blank_end], not the [blank_start]woman[blank_end]'s." - John [blank_start]Finnis[blank_end] (19[blank_start]73[blank_end]) - The Rights and Wrongs of [blank_start]Abortion[blank_end]: A Reply to Judith Jarvis Thomson

Luke 1:[blank_start]39[blank_end]-[blank_start]44[blank_end] - Jesus was once an [blank_start]embryo[blank_end] too; changes [blank_start]perspective[blank_end]

Doctors promised to "[blank_start]maintain[blank_end] the [blank_start]utmost[blank_end] respect for human life, for the time of its [blank_start]conception[blank_end]." - Declaration of [blank_start]Geneva[blank_end] (19[blank_start]48[blank_end])

Matthew [blank_start]25:40[blank_end] - "Just as you did it to the [blank_start]least[blank_end] of these who are members of my [blank_start]family[blank_end] you did it to me." (Jesus - [blank_start]marginalised[blank_end] + weak)

'[blank_start]acquired[blank_end] personhood' - undermines value human [blank_start]equality[blank_end] - eg: less [blank_start]civilised[blank_end] tribes < Greeks ; "[blank_start]natural[blank_end] slaves" - Aristotle ([blank_start]384[blank_end] - [blank_start]322[blank_end] BC) or lesser kind human being; (disabled, Jews/racially inferior, criminal etc.) - "[blank_start]Untermensch[blank_end]" - [blank_start]Nazis[blank_end]

"I believe that at all [blank_start]times[blank_end] and in all [blank_start]circumstances[blank_end] life is a blessed [blank_start]gift[blank_end]." - Malcom [blank_start]Muggeridge[blank_end]

"The [blank_start]value[blank_end] which our [blank_start]law[blank_end] expresses at the moment is that everyone, however [blank_start]old[blank_end] they are and in whatever [blank_start]circumstances[blank_end] they are in, is of [blank_start]value[blank_end]." - Richard [blank_start]Harries[blank_end]

"The [blank_start]basic[blank_end] argument against abortion, on which all others [blank_start]build[blank_end], is that the [blank_start]unborn[blank_end] child is already a human being, a [blank_start]person[blank_end], a [blank_start]bearer[blank_end] of [blank_start]rights[blank_end], and that abortion is therefore [blank_start]murder[blank_end]." - John Leslie [blank_start]Mackie[blank_end]

"From the first moment of his [blank_start]existence[blank_end] a human being must be recognised as having the [blank_start]rights[blank_end] of a person - among which is the [blank_start]inviolable[blank_end] right of every [blank_start]innocent[blank_end] [blank_start]being[blank_end] to life." - [blank_start]Catechism[blank_end] of Catholic Church ([blank_start]1994[blank_end]) - (Pope Pius XI - [blank_start]1869[blank_end] and Pope Paul VI - 1968)

Genesis [blank_start]2:7[blank_end] - "The Lord God [blank_start]formed[blank_end] the man [...] and [blank_start]breathed[blank_end] into his nostrils the breath of [blank_start]life[blank_end], and man became a [blank_start]living[blank_end] being."

Exodus 20:[blank_start]13[blank_end] - "You shall not [blank_start]murder[blank_end]."

[blank_start]Violinist[blank_end] example/analogy - Judith Jarvis [blank_start]Thomson[blank_end]

Genesis [blank_start]1:27[blank_end] - "So God [blank_start]created[blank_end] [blank_start]mankind[blank_end] in His [blank_start]image[blank_end]."

"Since neither a [blank_start]newborn[blank_end] infant nor a [blank_start]fish[blank_end] is a [blank_start]person[blank_end], the [blank_start]wrongness[blank_end] of killing [blank_start]such[blank_end] beings is not as great as the wrongness of killing a person." - Singer