Virtue Theory And Abortion Summary

Rosalind Hursthouse first sates in her essay “Virtue Theory and Abortion” the rules of the Virtue Theory and then applies it on how a virtue theorist would approach abortion. She explains the premises of virtue theory and how an action is only right if it is something a virtuous person would do. She then talks about how a person should only act if they truly understand what a virtuous person would do and not act on morals that are those considered by deontologists since those define something as morally right in accordance to moral laws but a virtuous person does not follow moral laws, they are that because their character leads them to doing the right thing and to promote the wellbeing of human life. Under the consideration of the virtue theory for abortion, the life of the fetus and the rights of the mother are both thrown out by virtue theory and are considered irreverent. This is because even if women have the rights to their own body, they can still act viciously or virtuously and the unknowing of the fetus is considered irrelevant because …show more content…
People tend to hold a deeper connection with their babies further along in the pregnancy. So it is more shocking that a person may have an abortion for shallow reasons later on in the pregnancy than in the earlier stages. She says abortion should be looked at as more than just getting a tooth pulled or an appendage removed. She talks about how light minded the people are who see it as something similar to getting an appendix removed. And these people’s actions are seen as vices since these people wonder why another couple might be so upset over having a miscarriage and because of this have little value towards life an Hursthouse says according to the virtue theory a person who is acting virtuous would grieve along with the couple who had a