Abortion in Controversy
FYSEMR 73Y
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Today the law of abortion in America is more in flux than it has been for decades. Educated citizens should have opportunities to study the issue in detail and to decide what they think. This seminar is designed to help first-year students discuss, in an academic setting, the difficult, important, and controversial questions raised by abortion. These include questions of ethics, policy, and law; of human personhood and futures of value; of autonomy and equality; of politics and history; and of unenumerated rights and judicial power.
Many of these questions are both highly abstract and deeply personal. While they are the subject of intense and heartfelt commitment on both sides, this seminar is offered in the belief that they are also a proper subject for intellectual inquiry. Within each unit, the assigned readings are roughly balanced as to viewpoint: they take deeply conflicting positions, and each student will certainly disagree with some of them. Students are expected to participate fully in the discussions and to complete occasional short writing assignments in response to the readings.
Class Notes
First-Year Seminars are available only to first-year students. You may apply to both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 First-Year Seminars via the FYS lottery between July 6 and August 6, 2026 at 11:59PM-midnight.
You may apply to as many seminars each term as you would like, but we recommend you apply to at least six in fall and three in spring.
As part of your application, you must provide a brief statement on why you are interested in each seminar. You will be notified of lottery results for both fall and spring seminars at 5 pm on August 11. If you are unsuccessful in the lottery, you may still join any seminar with open seats. A list of open seminars and instructions on next steps will be available on the First-Year Seminar Program website August 11 at 12 Noon.
Not Available for Cross Registration
