The secular version of a balance-of-rights argument compares the rights (to life) of an unborn child to the rights (to life) of the mother. The religious version compares the (moral) value of an unborn child to the (moral) value of the mother.
Four types of abortion arguments
- Anti abortion: Abortion can never be justified because the rights (to life)/(moral) value of the unborn child and mother are equal.
- Pro-abortion: Abortion can be justified in certain circumstances because the rights (to life)/(moral) value of an unborn child is less than the mother.
- Pro-life: Some pro-life arguments are anti-abortion and some are pro-abortion. Generally they want to make/keep abortions illegal or greatly restrict them.
- Pro-choice arguments are always pro-abortion and seek to make/keep abortions legal and generally expand the number of instances where they are allowed.
Any argument that justifies killing an unborn child (abortion) under any circumstances is based on the assumption that an unborn child’s rights (to life)/(moral) value is less than the mother. There are a fair number pro-abortion arguments but relatively few anti-abortion arguments.
Further reading:
- …the idea of balancing goes back to the old times where Justice was depicted as holding a set of scales in her hands. Balancing is considered in this work as the method by which courts ‘weigh’ conflicting interests and rights in order to find a stable solution; a solution that requires judges to tell which of the rights is the heaviest. “The thorny issue of balancing rights.” Elgaronline. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.elgaronline.com/display/9781785369353/08_chapter1.xhtml.