The Abortion Debate and Virtue Ethics

"Hence also it is no easy task to be good. For in everything it is no easy task to find the middle, e.g., to find the middle of a circle is not for everyone but for him who knows; so, too, any one can get angry—that is easy—or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way,that is not for every one, nor is it easy; wherefore goodness is both rare and laudable and noble." (Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, II, 9)

Maybe the reason abortion is such a vexing problem in the U.S. is because we expect to be able to fashion a principle or law about it, which will apply to all people, at all times, to the same extent, at the same time, assuming that they all have the same motives for seeking an abortion. Maybe what we need to do is abandon an action-based ethic and embrace a virtue ethic in regard to abortion.