Even if embryos/fetuses have moral value, that does not by itself mean that preventing abortions is an important cause area. An adult person’s needs, desires, preferences, health, happiness, and well-being also have moral value. More moral value, I would argue.
It seems deeply implausible that a first trimester embryo — the relevant entity to consider when talking about the majority of abortions — has as much moral value as an adult cow or pig. Well over a billion cows and pigs are slaughtered each year. On a per entity basis and on a total deaths basis, animal welfare far surpasses abortion in importance.
Any argument to the effect that not having a baby is bad for reasons unrelated to the intrinsic, immediate moral value of an embryo/fetus — such as considerations of the counterfactual life-years added to humanity’s total if a person does have a baby — leads to the implausible conclusion that each person has the moral obligation to have as many babies as possible.
Pro-life activism is not plausibly a neglected cause area in any way. There is already massive attention and resources devoted to it. Even if I fully agreed with the cause, it would be bizarre to suggest the effective altruist movement should make it a priority. By analogy, if someone said gay marriage (which I support about as strongly as I could possibly support anything) should be an EA cause area, I would find that bizarre. What do EAs have to add to this already crowded arena of politics?
Sure—but this is why I included the section on offsetting for women, wherein I noted that the empirical evidence just doesn’t support the idea that reducing abortion causes comparable harm to adults.
Perhaps, but there are many ideas EAs believe in which come across as prima facie implausible to some people—this is why I gave arguments (with links for more detail) to suppose that human embryos have similar moral value to adult humans—so it is difficult to respond without knowing exactly where you think those arguments go wrong. Could you elaborate please?
Perhaps—though this is only a somewhat peripheral and unnecessary part of my argument—most of which depends on the idea that they do indeed have some value. There will be some EAs who do hold views with pronatalist implications—this argument should be quite powerful for them. Other EAs don’t hold such views—that’s fine.
As I noted in the post, it is not neglected in the USA, though it is neglected in certain sectors, and is extremely neglected outside the USA (and to an extent Latin America).
I see a number of flaws with the reasoning here.
Even if embryos/fetuses have moral value, that does not by itself mean that preventing abortions is an important cause area. An adult person’s needs, desires, preferences, health, happiness, and well-being also have moral value. More moral value, I would argue.
It seems deeply implausible that a first trimester embryo — the relevant entity to consider when talking about the majority of abortions — has as much moral value as an adult cow or pig. Well over a billion cows and pigs are slaughtered each year. On a per entity basis and on a total deaths basis, animal welfare far surpasses abortion in importance.
Any argument to the effect that not having a baby is bad for reasons unrelated to the intrinsic, immediate moral value of an embryo/fetus — such as considerations of the counterfactual life-years added to humanity’s total if a person does have a baby — leads to the implausible conclusion that each person has the moral obligation to have as many babies as possible.
Pro-life activism is not plausibly a neglected cause area in any way. There is already massive attention and resources devoted to it. Even if I fully agreed with the cause, it would be bizarre to suggest the effective altruist movement should make it a priority. By analogy, if someone said gay marriage (which I support about as strongly as I could possibly support anything) should be an EA cause area, I would find that bizarre. What do EAs have to add to this already crowded arena of politics?
Thank you for your comments. To try and respond:
Sure—but this is why I included the section on offsetting for women, wherein I noted that the empirical evidence just doesn’t support the idea that reducing abortion causes comparable harm to adults.
Perhaps, but there are many ideas EAs believe in which come across as prima facie implausible to some people—this is why I gave arguments (with links for more detail) to suppose that human embryos have similar moral value to adult humans—so it is difficult to respond without knowing exactly where you think those arguments go wrong. Could you elaborate please?
Perhaps—though this is only a somewhat peripheral and unnecessary part of my argument—most of which depends on the idea that they do indeed have some value. There will be some EAs who do hold views with pronatalist implications—this argument should be quite powerful for them. Other EAs don’t hold such views—that’s fine.
As I noted in the post, it is not neglected in the USA, though it is neglected in certain sectors, and is extremely neglected outside the USA (and to an extent Latin America).
Thanks again for your comments.