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Summary - H573/02 Religion and Ethics - Sexual Ethics
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Notes covering the H573/02 Religion and Ethics topic of Sexual Ethics, with explanation and notes covering all the necessary content for the exams.
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Dillon Precious Sexual EthicsSexual Ethics:
Key ideas:
o Conception.
o Contraception.
o Homosexuality.
o Premarital / extramarital sexual relationships.
Love: intense feelings of empathy.
Sex: the act of sexual activity / intercourse.
Sanctity of life: religious people may use this phrase to describe how God has given life so
therefore God should be the only being to take it away.
o The fact that God has given humans life means that we should treat all life with
utmost respect. In Genesis 1:27 it states, “God created human beings making them
to be like himself.” Interfering with this process is “playing God.”
Chastity: refraining from sex.
Celibacy: abstaining from marriage and sex.
Cohabitation: the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being
married.
Casual Cohabitation: not fixed living with someone.
Trial Marriage Cohabitation: a practice / trial marriage.
o “Human love does not tolerate ‘trial marriages. It demands a total and definitive gift
of persons to one another.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Promiscuity: casual sex.
Substitute Marriage and Ideological Cohabitation: when someone does not agree with
marriage but is essentially in the state of “marriage” with someone else.
Conception and Contraception:
Conception: the act of conceiving a child.
Contraception: methods of preventing pregnancy.
o Just as people pursue their “right” to conceive, so to many pursue their “right” not
to conceive.
o Historically, contraception has always existed but it as the introduction of the pill in
the 1960s that changed people’s perception of sex.
o The Church has traditionally been more concerned with contraception, which for
Catholics is still traditionally forbidden (except by natural means).
According to Natural Law every act of sexual intercourse must be open to the possibility of
procreation.
Augustine said that contraception introduced moral corruption into the marital relationship.
Many Christian couples practice contraception to plan the timing of their family responsibly.
Some methods of contraception may be considered less viable than others. IUD acts as an
abortifacient and the “morning after pill” prevents implantation rather than fertilisation.
, Dillon Precious Sexual Ethics
Reproductive Ethics – do not want children:
Not Pregnant:
o Contraception – choices available are celibacy, sterilization, chemical means,
mechanical means, rhythm method.
Some ethical issues: separates the proper purpose of sex which is to be
both unitive and procreative. Can trivialise sex and reduce respect for
persons.
Pregnant:
o Abortion – choices are surgical abortion, use of abortifacients (such as RU486), the
morning after pill, some types of the contraceptive pill.
o Some ethical issues: what is the status of a foetus? Protection of the innocent set
against unwanted pregnancy and an inadequate quality of life.
Development of the Foetus:
Before it is known as an embryo it is referred to as a zygote.
25th day – heart beating.
28th day – legs and arms begin to form.
Sixth week – bones appear.
7th week – digits formed,
10th week – organs nearly formed.
12th week – vocal cords, sexual organs formed.
16th week – half its birth length.
22nd week – eyebrows and eyelashes form.
24th week – cut-off point for abortions.
Question of survival limits:
The legal limit for an abortion is 24 weeks.
35% of foetuses survived at 23 weeks.
70% of foetuses survived at 24 weeks.
90% of foetuses survived at 26/27 weeks.
Earliest premature baby survival is 21 weeks and 5 days.
What constitutes as a person?
Being capable of rational thought? The ability to solve problems using the power of reason.
Using rational thought to process decisions. This is what distinguishes animals from humans.
Having a form of consciousness, the ability to feel pleasure or pain? Problems arise from
this when trying to define a person.
Some would argue that personhood needs self-awareness. Others might argue that a being
requires the need to survive independently, not as a parasitical body.
Judith Jarvis Thomson:
o She accepted that the foetus is a person at conception but argued the foetal right to
life was overridden by the woman’s right to self-defence and the woman’s right to
her own body.
o This was developed using the analogy of the Violinist.
Legal debate about Abortion:
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