Read the following case—it is known as Roe v Wade:

“In March of 1970 Norma McCorvey was unmarried and pregnant, living in Dallas County, Texas… Ms
McCorvey was a working-class blue-collar woman of 24… She was raised as a poor Louisiana girl who
had spent a good part of her childhood in reform schools. She ran away from home when she was
10, then supported herself with odd jobs as a carnival barker, waitress, cleaner of apartments, and
construction worker. She had had three previous pregnancies, all of which had resulted in live births
with the children placed for adoption. In one case, the removal of the child was against her will.
[Note: At this time, Texas law permitted abortion only in cases where the mothers’ life was in
danger.] She realized she did not meet the criterion of wanting to discontinue a pregnancy to save
her life or prevent serious medical problems. She was simply at a point at which financially,
psychologically, and emotionally she should not have more children.” (Veatch et al (2015) Case
Studies in Biomedical Ethics.)

[Note: there isn’t clear information about which stage of pregnancy McCorvey was in when she
sought an abortion. So let’s assume that the fetus was in its second trimester.]

Now write a three paragraph paper on the following topic: is it morally permissible for Norma
McCorvey to obtain an abortion for socioeconomic reasons?

The structure of this assignment is the following:

Paragraph 1: “I say that it is/is not permissible for Norma McCorvey to obtain an abortion for
socioeconomic reasons because…”

Paragraph 2: “One might object that…”

Paragraph 3: “I reply that…”

Notes:

(i) Roe v Wade is a legal case that deals with many issues that are beyond the scope of this
assignment. Remember: all this assignment asks you is whether socioeconomic reasons give Norma
McCorvey sufficient moral reason to obtain an abortion.

(ii) Before you start working on this paper, make sure that you go back to Writing Assignment 2 and
re-read the feedback on your assignment.

(iii) Like the previous assignment, the purpose of this assignment is to develop your ability to present
a strong argument, raise a strong objection that engage the argument, and reply to objections. A
strong argument is one that is well developed and not easy to object, and a strong objection is one
that is well developed and not easy to reply. Try to start your paper with a strong argument. Don’t
just give a weak one, then raise an easy objection, and only to easily defeat it in your reply.

You should also make sure that your argument, objection, and reply engage one another. Your
paragraph 1 should present an argument, paragraph 2 gives an objection against paragraph 1, and
paragraph 3 gives a reply to the objection in paragraph 2.

(iv)If you make use of any external sources, please give citations using the APA, MLA, or
Turabian/Chicago format. This means (a) you don’t need to cite readings assigned in this course and
(b) using external sources is optional.

(v) Your paper should be about 500 words long. The absolute limit is 600. Mark penalty will start to
apply on the 601st word.

(iv) Write clearly. Your assignment will be assessed partly based on clarity. One way to do so is by
avoid writing long sentences and paragraphs.

(v) Unlike the previous assignment, this assignment allows only one attempt.

(vi) [VERY IMPORTANT] DO NOT put your name anywhere in your assignment, including in the file
name. This is for anonymous marking. Violations will be subject to mark penalties.

(vii) All submissions will go through a Turnitin plagiarism check and this requires no actions on your
part. This is in accordance with the University’s policy on academic assessment
(https://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,41,626,0).

(viii) In order to prevent abuse and unfairness, any corrupt files/wrong submissions will be subject to
a late penalty as per the late submission policy. Please check your submission file carefully.

(ix) Marking will be based on a 5+2 criterion rubric. As explained in the syllabus and in the first
tutorial, these 5+2 criterion are conjunctive. For instance, in order to get a B, a paper must receive B
(or above) on all of the first five criteria and pass on the last two criteria (the last two criteria are
pass/fail). A paper will not receive B if it gets anything lower than B on any one of the first five
criteria or fail on the either one of the last two criteria.

(x) If you want to receive comments, state it clearly at the beginning of your paper. Otherwise no
comments will be given.