Abortion in J. Rawls’s A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism and R. Dworkin’s Life’s Dominion

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Miscellaneous, grade: A-, Central European University Budapest, language: English, abstract: The author has compared the issue of abortion focusing on pro-life vs. pro-choice position in Rawls’s theory of justice and political liberalism and Dworkin’s discussion about moral problems of abortion. In the first and second parts of this paper, the author has analyzed the abortion issue from the standpoint of the original position, veil of ignorance, rights and interests, detached vs. derivative position, natural vs. human investment while criticisising the application of Rawls’s natural duties and Dworkin’s intrinsic (sacred) value to abortion. In the final part, Rawls’s and Dworkin’s positions on abortion issues are compared, drawing conclusions on similarities and divergence.