Disabled Bodies on Earth and in Heaven

Eschatology and the Ethics of Selective Abortion

Bibliographic Data

ID14760770
AuthorsMargaret D Kamitsuka (0000-0002-8061-4402, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume49
Issue2
Pages358-380
Publication date2021-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12355
OpenAlexW3193777163
LanguageEN
References cited44

A vigorous ethical debate is underway about disability rights and selective abortion. One prodisability group criticizes the ableism of abortion based on prenatal screening. Another group supports legalized abortion but harbors serious concerns about disability bias. This essay moves the debate forward by reflecting on the ethics of selective abortion from a particular theological perspective: eschatology. I critically examine the claim that selective abortion contradicts the principle of Samaritan hospitality and the claim that envisioning disabled people in heaven means that selective abortion is an illegitimate use of women’s moral agency. This essay proposes a view of the resurrection using what philosopher call emergence theory, which I argue is prodisability because it conceptualizes how the bodies of beings affected with a disability who die in utero might attain heaven. I also present a view of divine providence that is supportive of women’s self‐determination and self‐trust in reproductive issues, including selective abortion

Ableism · Abortion · Agency (philosophy · Epistemology · Heaven · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · Gender Studies · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Law · Philosophy · Reproductive Health and Technologies

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