Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0000-9412-7528
Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
12-2024
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy and Public Affairs
Second Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Alex Rajczi
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2024 Julia K Mehlman
Abstract
This thesis works to expand the discussion of the moral inconsistency between opposing abortions under a full moral value stance (FMV) while supporting parent-friendly IVF practices. I broaden this discussion by turning to circumstantial, rather than moral, justifications for protections. Ultimately, I argue that children deserve heightened protections, justified by their circumstances; these circumstantial justifications serve as a potential avenue for justifying heightened protections for fetuses but not embryos.
The first two-thirds of this thesis delves into the moral inconsistency. Analyzing Joshua Shaw’s Surplus Embryos and Abortion, I argue that Shaw’s definition of the inconsistency is correct and that alleviation entails meeting the four conditions Shaw describes. Through James Delaney’s Embryo Loss and Moral Status, I determine that different reactions to the deaths of embryos versus children are consistent with FMV. Since psychological, not moral, reasons drive these reactions, they do not negate the fact that they hold an FMV.
Finally, I claim that children deserve heightened protections on the grounds of circumstance rather than inherent value. Moreover, it is not morally inconsistent to propose heightened protections for one and not another even when they are equally morally valuable. I look at (1) age, (2) viability and fetal development, (3) human potential, (4) naturalness, and (5) emotional attachments creating obligations as potential arguments for circumstantially heightened protections for fetuses. If successful, this could alleviate the inconsistency. I determine that none of them are sufficient justifications. Since these justifications fail, the moral inconsistency remains.
Recommended Citation
Mehlman, Julia, "Moral Consistency in the Value of Embryonic and Fetal Human Life: Trying to Reconcile Abortion Opposition and Parent-Friendly IVF Practices Under a Full Moral Value Stance" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 3774.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3774
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.