Citation

Denis L. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 2008; 76(1): 117-137.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1933-1592.2007.00117.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper situates abortion in the context of women’s duties to themselves. I argue that the fundamental Kantian requirement to respect oneself as a rational being, combined with Kant’s view of our animal nature, form the basis for a view of pregnancy and abortion that focuses on women’s agency and characters without diminishing the importance of their bodies and emotions. The Kantian view of abortion that emerges takes abortion to be morally problematic, but sometimes permissible, and sometimes even required.