Dr. Glenn Peoples spoke to us on Friday night on the subject of Abortion, Morality and Law. We had a good turn-out of around 50 people including Ken Orr who is the spokesperson for Right to Life in the current major Abortion law case currently awaiting judgement in the High Court.
You can listen to the talk here at Glenn’s blog (scroll down to the bottom of the post). Click here to download an MP3 file of the talk. Hoping to get the video from the talk up on Youtube shortly 
The audience
Glenn has kindly provided us with his Powerpoint slides which I will summarise below. His notes from the talk are also available, click here to download them as they are a great resource of information specifically related to abortion in New Zealand.
Dr. Glenn Peoples explains a common pro-choice argument
An outline of the Powerpoint presentation is below. Click here to download Glenn’s notes from the talk which go into much more detail on each of these points.
Abortion: Is it Immoral and Should it be Illegal?
Dr. Glenn Peoples
Is Abortion Immoral?
The Traceback Argument
- Necessarily, A= A
- It is prima facie [at face value] immoral to kill a human being
- Abortion kills a human being (as shown via the traceback argument)
- Therefore abortion is prima facie immoral
The Argument from the Future
- What makes killing wrong?
- Killing is wrong because it takes away a future like mine
- Does Abortion Take Away a Future like Mine?
- It is prima facie wrong to take away a future like mine.
- Abortion takes away a future like mine
- Therefore Abortion is prima facie immoral
Should Abortion be Illegal?
- Some people say “I’m personally opposed, but pro choice.”
- However,
- Abortion is immoral because it destroys things that are identical with living human persons
- Abortion is immoral because it takes away a future like mine
- The reasons for deeming abortion immoral also justify making it illegal
Objections
- The objection from imposing morality
- “Making abortion illegal won’t stop it”
- The objection from illegal abortion and maternal death
Abortion: Is it Immoral and Should it be Illegal? YES
Glenn has also done a blog post where he has noted down the question and answer section at the end of the talk which is quite interesting reading. So check it out…
Prolife UC thanks Glenn and his wife Ruth for flying up from Dunedin to speak to us, and we hope to have them back again sometime soon!