Pro Life Philosophy By Peter Kreeft Essay - 1827 Words

In â€Å"Pro-Life Philosophy†, Peter Kreeft argues that abortion should be illegal to protect the rights of the weak and innocent. His argument states that 1) it is wrong to deliberately kill an innocent person, 2) an unborn human being is an innocent human person and an abortion is a deliberate killing of that person, therefore, 3) abortion is always wrong. Part of Kreeft’s argument rests on the premise that a fetus is a person, this premise has been highly debated in abortion literature and Kreeft’s argument is weak in light of criticism presented regarding the right to life. Regardless of the truth of this premise, Kreeft’s argument still falls short. Kreeft’s condemnation of all abortions as deliberate killings can be refuted by the definition of an intentional killing and a look at the application of this definition. His argument ultimately does not stand up to criticism. The backbone of Kreeft’s argument focuses on the concept of deliberately killing an innocent person. He defines this as â€Å"intentionally; that is, knowingly and willingly†¦ forc[ing] death upon by an act of violence†¦a person that does not deserve death† (Kreeft, 1). Kreeft claims that deliberately killing an innocent person is always wrong. This claim is also found in the doctrine of double effect which maintains that intentionally killing any innocent person is always impermissible. This claim is supported by examples provided by Baruch Brody in his essay â€Å"Opposition to Abortion: A Human Rights Approach†.