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Arguments against capital punishment can also be applied to support the pro-life position on abortion. Four underlying ethical principles are discussed.

Intentions are relevant to deciding whether an act is right or wrong, and thus should be considered relevant to the morality of euthanasia. The contention of James Rachels that intentions are relevant to judgments of character, but not to the rightness or wrongness of acts, is incorrect. Criminal law recognizes at least that bad intentions can make a wrong act worse. Rachels also fails to take into account the concept of moral permissibility. In addition, the individuation of actions affects the relationship between act and intention.