Mecial Ethics Homework Assignment 7

Homework Assignment #7

In Decision Scenario 4, Clare Macwurter, a twenty-two year old female, suffered from brain damage. Mentally she remained a child, but she enjoyed life and could care for herself with the help of her parents. Clare was interested in sex and had been caught having intercourse with a fellow student at the special school they attended. Her parents took no precautions to ensure that she would not be sexually involved with anyone. To the Macwurter’s surprise, Clare became pregnant and they could not figure out how it could have happened. John Macwurter eventually admitted to having sexual intercourse with Clare and the issue of what was to be done with the baby came about. The Macwurters came to the conclusion that an abortion was the best thing to do and made the arrangements for an abortion to be performed.

Gert’s common morality is a two-process that requires a description of the potential action and then estimating the consequences of the action. Gert classifies 10 rules that are essential to our ethical behavior: don’t kill, don’t cause pain, don’t disable, don’t deprive of freedom, don’t deprive of pleasure, do not deceive, don’t break your promises, do not cheat, obey the law and do your duty. Upon applying Gert’s moral evaluation process, I would say that the proposed abortion violates the rules of do not kill and also don’t cause pain. In having an abortion, you are essentially killing the fetus growing inside your womb. Thus, Gert’s rule of “do not kill” is violated and further assessment is needed. I also believe that the rule of “do not cause pain” is also violated because having an abortion can take a small toll on you physically and mentally. Although Clare’s brain is damaged, she must be at least minimally aware of what is going on during the abortion and this could cause her some distress.

There are multiple morally relevant facts that go into this scenario. First off, since Clare has brain damage, her parents likely have full...