LUMINA Volume 21 No. 2


PERSONHOOD AND ABORTION: AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE


by Dr. Ebunoluwa O. Oduwole

One of the most fundamental issues in contemporary ethical discourse, which philosophers have not been able to reach any considerable consensus is the question of personhood. It is the question of what constitutes the humanness, dignity and personal identity of a being. Within the Western philosophical circle, no uncontroversial answer prevails. Any answer given to the fundamental question has serious implications for one's moral judgment on the moral worthiness or otherwise of moral issues like euthanasia, human rights, capital punishment, helping the poor, abortion amongst others. For instance, in the discourse on abortion, the question of personhood takes the form of: When does personhood begin and can there be any justifiable grounds for consciously bringing to an abrupt end, the existence of such personhood by another individual? Some modern bio-ethicists like Baruch Brody, I.W. Summer and Mary Warren have responded to this question and in fact come up with certain criteria of personhood which suit their advocacy for abortion.



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