Abortion: Conflict between actual and potential existences

The article deals with one of the most pressing topics in bioethics, namely the attitude to abortion. The author focuses on the interpretation of this practice as a kind of conflict between a woman and the fetus that she gestates (this conflict concerns women’s rights and duties to the fetus, its interests, and the moral status of the fetus in general). Considering several variants of arguments which protect women’s right to abortion (primarily utilitarian arguments based on analogy), the author tries to identify the structure of argumentation. Finally, she presents her own argument against the practice of terminating pregnancy.