POLSC401: Ethics and Public Policy

6a. Identify ethical dilemmas that policymakers may face in dealing with issues of marriage, cohabitation, custody, divorce, adoption, and other personal relationships

• What are some ethical issues policymakers may need to consider when creating policies regarding divorce?
• What is the connection between interracial marriage and same sex marriage in U.S. legal history?
• What is the connection between contraception and abortion in U.S. legal history? 

In this unit, we explore ethical dilemmas that relate to personal liberties, such as interracial marriage, LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage, custody, adoption and the well-being of children, surrogate motherhood, contraception, and abortion.

Making laws and policies that pertain to marriage and personal relationships are controversial because they concern topics related to the personal and religious experiences of individuals. These policies frequently affect our every-day lives and can be quite emotional.

Do policymakers have the right to restrict the rights of individuals from participating in activities they believe are immoral, even when the so-called guilty party is not infringing on the rights of others? Perhaps these infringements on our rights are subtle, hidden, or do not affect us personally, but infringe on the rights of our family, friends, coworkers, and fellow citizens.

Do the rights of the majority always win as a utilitarian would have it? What about the rights of those who are in the minority? Do citizens have the right to prevent policymakers from using their tax dollars to support activities they oppose for religious or moral reasons?

What if policymakers feel they have a duty to protect their constituents against the crimes of divorce, interracial marriage, same sex marriage, or abortion, even when they are not personally affected? Are these activities crimes when no one is harmed?

Review these questions from the framework of someone who supports 1. virtue ethics (Aristotle), 2. deontology (Kant), 3. utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill), 4. the common good and 5. a fairness approach (Rawls).

Review Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy by John Christman; the Supreme Court decision on interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia; the lecture Debating Same-Sex Marriage/the Good Life by Michael Sandel; the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision on same sex marriage in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health; the compendium of articles Should Gay Marriage be Legal?; the Supreme Court decision on contraception in Griswold v. Connecticut; and the website Should Abortion be Legal?.

6b. Analyze ethical dilemmas involving issues of marriage, cohabitation, custody, divorce, adoption, and other personal relationships

• What rights should grandparents have related to the children of divorced parents?
• How does surrogate motherhood and genetically-engineered children present ethical dilemmas to policymakers?
• What is the significance of Lawrence v. Texas in the eventual legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States?
• What is one way policymakers can take the rights of mothers and unborn children into account when making policies related to abortion? Is a fetus an unborn child?

Policymakers face ethical dilemmas when they legislate on issues related to personal relationships because they can promote conflicts among the rights of individuals. For example, can a court invalidate a legal contract (ignoring the rights of the surrogate parents who signed it), to support the rights of a surrogate mother who willingly (or unwillingly) signed away her parental rights? Can a court remove the parental rights of a mother, to award child custody to the father because he and the court believe she has been a bad mother? What about the rights of other stakeholders, such as the child's grandparents?

What about the rights of a couple who wants access to contraception, or the rights of a couple who wants to have an abortion due to an unplanned pregnancy? Does the ethical rational change if the woman would like to abort a pregnancy caused by rape or incest? What if the woman's doctors predict she will surely die in childbirth if she does not have an abortion? Does the fetus have any rights in any of these cases? What role does religious belief have in this discussion?

Review these questions from the framework of someone who supports 1. virtue ethics (Aristotle), 2. deontology (Kant), 3. utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill), 4. the common good and 5. a fairness approach (Rawls).

Review Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy by John Christman; the decision of the Superior Court of New Jersey regarding the rights of surrogate mothers In the Matter of Baby 'M' (1988); the decision of the Supreme Court of North Carolina regarding parental rights in Speagle v. Seitz; and the article on the rights of grandparents in Grandparents Affected by Parental Divorce: A Population at Risk? by Jane E. Myers.

Review the discussion Contraception and Abortion by Elizabeth Collins, the Supreme Court decision on contraception in Griswold v. Connecticut; the website Should Abortion be Legal?.

Unit 6 Vocabulary

• Abortion
• Contraception
• Divorce
• Fetus
• Genetic engineering
• Interracial marriage 
• Lawrence v. Texas
• LGBTQ rights
• Same sex marriage
• Surrogate motherhood