Attending to Particulars

abortions before legalization-the stories and cases are now familiar-but also how many of them were coerced by men. We now hear many stories about women who have trouble getting legal abortions because of threats against clinics-but practically nothing about that most interesting statistic which shows that over 40 percent of abortions are now repeat abortions, and many for the third or fourth time. Stories and cases must be selected, and too often it is the politics of ethics rather than the ethics of ethics that wins the day. We will wait for many years before the Public Broadcasting Service does the repeat abortion story. General statistics, trends, and patterns are as much the stuff of reality as concrete cases. An excessively large dose of the latter in the absence of the former tells us too little about the way the world is. Even worse, it seduces us into thinking we know all we need to know. Clinical ethics is valuable and useful-as long as it can always be transcended. m

Philosophy · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies

• The Tyranny of Principles

  Stephen Toulmin•The Hastings Center Report•1981

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