About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

2019 U. Oxford Hum. Rts. Hub J. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/uoxhruj2019 and id is 1 raw text is: 










   Ethics of Care and the Public

              Good of Abortion


                       Jonathan   Herring*



Abstract

This article makes the case for seeing abortion as a public good. It
does so using an ethics of care analysis. At the heart of the argument is
that ethics of care requires us to promote  relationships which are
marked  by care and mutual  flourishing and to terminate relationships
which are not so marked. Applying this in the context of pregnancy it is
argued that the law should protect and promote wanted pregnancies as
profoundly caring relationships, but that law must offer a termination of
unwanted  pregnancies. By providing abortion the law can end a non-
caring relationship and free women to enter other caring relationships. I
argue that this approach chimes with the reasons women typically give
for seeking  termination (to free them  to undertake  other caring
responsibilities). It also provides a reason why unwanted termination of
pregnancy,  for example  by  miscarriage or  criminal acts, can be
recognised as serious wrongs, without challenging a liberal abortion
law.

Keywords: Abortion, Ethics of Care, Pregnancy, Caring Relationships,



                        L  Introduction

This article will seek to apply ethics of care to make the case for the
public good of abortion. While ethics of care is thought by some to be
antithetical to abortion rights, this article will argue the opposite. The
promotion  of  caring relationships requires both the support  and


*jonathan Herring, Professor Law, University of Oxford

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most