Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides? Abortion, Assisted Dying, Capital Punishment, and Torture

Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Brief Contents
Detailed Contents
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
1 A Single Question
	A Moral System Evolves
	The Early Moments and Months of Life
	The Boundaries of Tolerable Suffering
	Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering
	The Single Question
PART I A Moral System Evolves
	2 An Exclusionary Movement is Born
		Some Lives Are More Worthy Than Others
		Eugenics Becomes a Duty
		A Base of Operation
		Framing the Agenda
		Branching Out
		The Criteria for Exclusion
	3 Legal Reform to Eliminate Defectives
		How to Limit Defectives
		A Moral Entrepreneur Reviews the Landscape
		Framing a Legitimized Logic of Exclusion
		A Receptive Exclusionary Climate
		Mobilizing Resources and Networks of Support
		The Legal Framework Clarifies
		A Landmark Case is Contrived
		The Floodgates Open
		Public-Health Measures Go Terribly Wrong
	4 Redrawing the Boundaries of Protected Life
		An Awakening
		Science, Technology, and Cultural Lag
		A Crystallizing Event and Rationing Health Care
		Social Worth and Rationed Health Care
		Stories are Told, Doctrines Explored
		The Decade of Conferences
		Flawed Judgment and Sloppy Science
		Harvesting for Life
		Deference to Doctors
		A Harvard Committee Redefines Death
		A Paradigm for Protected Life
	5 Crystallizing Events and Ethical Principles
		A Term is Coined
		Two Centers Frame the Debate
		Four Crystallizing Events
		The Search for Common Principles
		The Belmont Report and the Georgetown Principles
		Bioethics in Action
PART II The Early Moments and Months of Life
	6 A Bolt from the Blue: Abortion is Legalized
		From Comstockery to the Right to Privacy
		Potential for Life, Potential for Suffering
		A Social Movement Splinters
		A Bolt from the Blue
	7 Man’s Law or God’s Will
		Landmark Cases Take Shape
		Legitimacy Questioned
		A Clash of Absolutes?
		The Power of Empathy
		Protests and Rescue Missions
		Violence Increases
		Operation Rescue
		Roe Reexamined
		The Summer of Mercy
		Taking Lives to Save Lives
		The Army of God
	8 Inches from Life
		Words and Images
		Protecting Health as well as Life
		The Political Landscape
		A Strange and Strained Argument
		The Political Landscape Shifts
		Legal Details
		Adapting to a Strange and Strained Decision
	9 Should the Baby Live?
		Lives Worth Living, Protecting, and Supporting
		Regulations Emerge
		Nagging Uncertainties—Who Should Decide?
		When Doctors Say No
		Dealing with Futility
		Dealing with Uncertainty
PART III The Boundaries of Tolerable Suffering
	10 Limits to Tolerable Suffering
		The Boundaries of Tolerable Suffering
		Troubling Cases in Troubled Times
		The Stages of Suffering
		Please Let Me Die
		When Life Becomes Vegetative
	11 Alleviating Suffering and Protecting Life
		Prolonged Death and the Public Good
		The Right-to-Die Movement Gains Momentum
		Public Opinion and Legislative Action
		California Takes the Lead
		Alleviating Suffering and Protecting Life: Who Decides?
		The Supreme Court Weighs In
		The Gift of Death
	12 God, Duty, and Life Worth Living
		Belief in an Efficacious, Caring God
		Uncertainty, a Duty to Die, and Rationed Health Care
		Lives Less Worthy of Living?
		Death with Dignity
	13 Assisted Dying
		Social Movements Realign
		A First-Hand Account Stimulates Debate
		A Suicide Machine and a Cookbook of Death
		A Calmer Voice
		A Foothold is Secured
		Is There a Right to Assisted Suicide?
		Unanimous Ambivalence
		Voters Decide (Again) and Are Challenged (Again)
PART IV Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering
	14 Removing the Protective Boundaries of Life
		Lynching and the Margins of Life
		Crystallizing Events on the Road to Reform
		Evolving Protections for Those on the Margins
		Another Crystallizing Event
		Stark Inhumanity Energizes a Movement
		Reform Efforts Coalesce
	15 A Campaign to Stop the Executions
		A Sense of Injustice and Questioned Legitimacy
		Remaining Legacy of a Misguided Chivalry
		A Campaign is Launched
		Efforts Intensify
		The Core Question for a Last-Ditch Effort
		Arbitrary and Capricious Procedures
		Justifications for Taking Life Are Clarified
	16 The Pendulum Swings, the Debate Continues
		The Pendulum Swings
		Science, Technology, and Innocence
		A Messy and Meaningless System
		A Watershed Decision
		Mental Retardation and Age
		Uncertain Boundaries, Innocent Lives, Scarce Drugs, and Botched Executions
	17 Justifying Torture
		Narrowing the Justification of Torture
		A Cultural Trauma
		The Boundaries between Us and Them
		Drawing the Boundaries
		Rethinking the Rock-Solid Prohibition of Torture
		A Sliding Scale for Torture
		Enhanced Interrogation Gone Bad
		The Power of Popular Culture
		The Senate Becomes Concerned
		The Debate Continues
		Tension Remains
	18 Lessons Learned
		Lesson One: The Power of Assessed Social Worth
		Lesson Two: Change Comes Along a Jagged and Contentious Path
		Lesson Three: The Importance of Analogies, Metaphors, Images and Stories
		Lesson Four: Who Decides?
		Lesson Five: Dilemmas Lead to Cyclical Change
		Lesson Six: Tension Remains
Index