Part of a set of university teaching materials called "Encouraging Critical Thinking Online" by Meriel Patrick of Oxford University, made openly available for adaptation and re-use in the Intute Virtual Training Suite <http: />

1. Encouraging Critical
Thinking Online
Unit 2
Gauging and Examining
Popular Opinion
Abortion

2. Abortion - Overview
• Usually refers to the deliberate
termination of a pregnancy before
the foetus is able to survive
independently
• Legal in Great Britain up to the
twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, or
later for urgent medical reasons

3. Abortion
• Find and browse websites that
address this issue
• Note the range of views you
encounter, and the key site(s) for
each view
• Note how prevalent each view is

4. Abortion – Key Views
• Pro-life – abortion is equivalent to
murder, and should never or almost
never be permitted
• Intermediate – abortion should be
permitted in certain circumstances
• Pro-choice – women should
always have the right to choose to
have an abortion

5. Abortion – Key Sites
• The BBC Religion and Ethics
section on abortion provides an
overview of key issues
• A PDF on the BMA website
provides a medical perspective and
outlines the legal position

6. Abortion – Key Sites
• Pro-life interest groups:
– Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
– LIFE
• Pro-choice interest groups:
– Pro-Choice Forum
– Abortion Rights

7. Abortion – Key Sites
• Feminist perspectives:
– Pro-choice:
Abortion: Still a Feminist Issue
– Pro-life:
Women Deserve Better than Abortion
(PDF)

8. Abortion – Key Sites
• GravityTeen’s Quotes from the Pros
section includes a highly selective
collection of quotations from
professionals involved with
performing or organising abortions

9. Abortion – Key Sites
• The Abortion is Murder website
uses graphic images of aborted
foetuses to make its point (Warning:
some people may find these images
distressing)

10. Abortion – Discussion Questions
• Which views are most widespread?
– How significant is this?
• Are there any discernable patterns
in who holds each view?
– Among experts and lay people?
– In the UK and elsewhere in the world?
– Among religious and secular groups?

11. Abortion – Discussion Questions
• How representative do you think the
views you encountered are of wider
society?
– What might make people more or less
likely to express their views publicly?
– What might make them more or less
likely to do so online?

12. Abortion – Examining the Sites
• Look at some of the websites again,
and consider:
– How various views are expressed
– What techniques sites use to promote
their views
– What you find persuasive – and why

13. Abortion – Discussion Questions
• What techniques are used to
promote each view?
– Are arguments given? Do they work?
– Is evidence presented? Is it
convincing?
– Are appeals to emotion or shock
tactics used? Are these effective?

14. Abortion – Discussion Questions
• Do any of the sites examined
feature:
– Evidence of bias or prejudice?
– Ad hominem arguments?
– Sweeping generalisations about
opponents or opposing views?
– Statements you know to be false?
• How does this affect your reaction?

15. Abortion – Discussion Questions
• What do you personally find
persuasive? Why is this?
• Was there anything you found off-
putting, or that had the opposite
effect from that intended by the
author?
• Did anything cause you to question
views you’d held previously?

16. This slideshow is part of
Encouraging Critical Thinking Online,
a set of free teaching resources
designed to develop
students’ analytic abilities,
using the Web as source material.
For the full set, please visit
Intute Training:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/training/