Harm, Abortion, and Heaven

Abstract

In this paper, we examine an apparent tension between the following three claims: (1) there is an afterlife, for example, in Heaven or Hell, and individuals experience perfect happiness in the former, (2) deceased embryonic children go to Heaven, and (3) that abortion is morally wrong because it harms the fetus. We consider whether abortion harms a fetus given (1) and (2). Our paper assesses this claim—that abortion harms the embryonic child aborted—by applying the most prominent accounts of harm on offer in the literature while presupposing (1) and (2). Our goal is to determine which accounts of harm avoid or fall prey to the apparent tension involved in maintaining (1) and (3).