The three main aspects of politics, religion and the women’s right to choose go into the different arguments over the debates of abortion. One of the movements which is pro-life which is against the legalization of abortion. Another main movement is pro-choice which believes that ‘if’ the fetus is a person then the women can’t if the abortion. However, pro-consent believes that the women have a right to choose to consent to the condition of pregnancy or obtain an abortion (McDonagh, 23). Pro-consent supports the rights of all living beings. People in the general public in non-similar situations should not have a right to decide a woman’s right to abort a child. A woman may choose an abortion if she is unable to care for a child either emotionally or financially. Anti-abortionists unfairly use intimidation, appealing to emotion, and making the situation much more difficult. George Tiller, a leader in the pro-consent movement, believes that abortion becomes a way for females to survive (Young, 416). Additionally, Judith Jarvis Thomson wrote an article called In the Defense of Abortion in 1972, a year before Roe vs. Wade took place. A similar stance as Thomson argued a year prior to the ruling the line of the separation of Church and state becomes increasingly small because of disproportionate voice of white males and Catholics.
Politicians cite religious beliefs to make abortion illegal. The contradiction between what the religious opinions and what the majority of Americans believes are disproportionate. The campaign for the 2008 election was extremely faulty. Shortly before the election took place, several Bishops reinforced the Catholic Churches “opposition to abortion” (Cahill, 188). The direct involvement of the ...
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... the movement Pro-consent in its entirety needs to be talked about. The current events need to make a stance on the 14th amendment rights and the relation to abortion, women’s bodily right, and consequences. Although it pre-dates Roe v. Wade, pro-life movement has not addressed the clause in the 14th amendment. As time moves on past the Roe vs. Wade era, activists need to use new arguments.
Works Cited
Cahill, Lisa Sowle. "RELIGION AND POLITICS: U.S.A." Theological Studies 70.1 (2009): 186-191. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 March 2011.
McDonagh, Eileen. "ADDING CONSENT TO CHOICE IN THE ABORTION DEBATE." Society 42.5 (2005): 18-26. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 March 2011.
Young, Angie. "Abortion, Ideology, and the Murder of George Tiller." Feminist Studies 35.2 (2009): 416-420. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 March 2011.
Thomson, Judith Jarvis. A defense of abortion. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1.1 (Fall 1971): 47-66.
The current issues concerning a woman’s right to an abortion include the debates between pro-life and pro-choice groups that promote either restrictions or extensions to a woman’s ability to receive abortions respectively, along with debate about the role that the government should play in the process of limiting or extending rights. Pro-life groups argue many points against abortion including the beliefs that life begins at conception, adoption is a viable alternative to abortion, the procedures sometimes cause medical complications, a...
The debate of abortion continues to be a controversial problem in society and has been around for many decades. According to Jone Lewis, “In the United States, abortion laws began to appear in the 1820’s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy” (1). This indicates that the abortion controversy has been debated far back into American history. Beginning in the 1900’s, legalized abortion became a major controversy. In 1965, all fifty states in the United States banned abortion; however, that was only the beginning of the controversy that still rages today (Lewis 1). After abortion was officially banned in the United States, groups such as the National Abortion Rights Action League worked hard on a plan to once again legalize abortion in the United States (Lewis 1). It wasn’t until 1970 when the case of Roe (for abortion) v. Wade (against abortion) was brought...
When looking at the development of abortion policy, it is clear that it has always been a subject of controversy. Campaigns for the legalisation of...
Abortion is a controversial topic in today’s society as many opinions from different social groups on whether it should be legal or not create the big question: should the government be able to take away a woman’s reproductive right if it is to protect a fetus? In the United States particularly, much of the debate since the 1970s has focused on the Supreme Court case Roe v Wade, in which the court proclaimed women's’ rights to abortion but declared that the states could limit and regulate the procedure. That means that currently, the state of California allows abortions, but many groups against abortion, mostly called “pro-lifers,” still try to fight against it and want it banned. Women have a right to their own body and should
Over the duration of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with consideration to her reproductive rights. The drawback, however, is that there is no agreement upon when life begins and at which point one crosses the line from unalienable rights to murder.
Abortion, defined as the intentional termination of a pregnancy, is one of the most highly debated liberties of all time. Approximately one to three million abortions are performed each year. Women receive abortions for reasons such as rape, teen pregnancy, and health concerns. Unfortunately, it is a liberty that some still wish to eradicate due to religious beliefs and misconceptions. Abortion should remain a legal option for women because illegal abortions result in far more fatalities, religion does not serve as grounds for a law, and most importantly, there is no conclusive evidence that a fetus is equal to a human being.
Since the Darwinian Revolution of the 19th century our society has turned upside down. Everything under the sun had become questionable, the origin of life, how we came to be, where are we headed and what to do in the here all became questions in life. But one of the greatest impacts of this new age thinking is its effect on our Old World values. Western societies values, morals and ethics became debatable, with some people striving for change and others clinging for stability. Battle lines had been drawn and the Liberals and Conservatives were ready to duke it out on a number of issues. One of these debates centers on a woman?s right to have and abortion. According to the Webster?s dictionary and abortion is defined as a miscarry, something misshapen or unnatural. An abortion is a procedure in which an embryo or fetus is prohibited from developing by artificial means. One could argue that this is next to murder. How can we as a society sanction the murdering of developing babies? Also it can equally be stated that abortion is unnatural and a health hazard to women who have undergone the procedure. Whatever the case, abortion should be outlawed because it is immoral and mothers should face the responsibilities of their actions. Many arguments can be used in order to put an end to abortion or at least in order to establish dialogue. One of the oldest arguments against abortion is the religious standpoint. Western society (Canada & U.S.A.) is historically a Judeo-Christian culture with Judeo-Christian values. Although in recent times we have become an increasingly pluristic society the Old World thinking is still at the heart of our social relations and laws. The Bible says ?Thou shalt not kill? thus prohibiting people from harming others or themselves. Abortion and its advocates violate this law. They seek to change one of the most fundamental values of our society. Pro-choice under this stance is equated with murder and ?playing God?. One may raise the question, how can a minority inflict its views of the majority? According to Francis X. Meenan, this is a false assumption. He goes on to claim that those who favor abortion on demand are the real minority (Bender & Leone, 97). He also claims that the issue of abortion is a moral debate and cannot be settled by numbers. So even if pro-choice advocates outnumbered pro-life advocates, this would prove or...
Baird, Robert M., and Stuart E. Rosenbaum. The Ethics of Abortion: Pro-life vs. Pro-choice. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989. Print.
The permissibility of abortion has been a crucial topic for debates for many years. People have yet to agree upon a stance on whether abortion is morally just. This country is divided into two groups, believers in a woman’s choice to have an abortion and those who stand for the fetus’s right to live. More commonly these stances are labeled as pro-choice and pro-life. The traditional argument for each side is based upon whether a fetus has a right to life. Complications occur because the qualifications of what gives something a right to life is not agreed upon. The pro-choice argument asserts that only people, not fetuses, have a right to life. The pro-life argument claims that fetuses are human beings and therefore they have a right to life. Philosopher, Judith Jarvis Thomson, rejects this traditional reasoning because the right of the mother is not brought into consideration. Thomson prepares two theses to explain her reasoning for being pro-choice; “A right to life does not entail the right to use your body to stay alive” and “In the majority of cases it is not morally required that you carry a fetus to term.”
Wear, Ken. “Abortion: Let's Apply More Reason and Less Emotion to the Public Debate” Wear, Ken, published; Nov. 1999. Paragraph 6, 12/13/09. http://www.rationallink.org/abortion.htm
Anger and heated debate have long fueled the controversy over abortion. Whether pro-life or pro-choice, both sides of the argument are convinced of the righteousness of their beliefs. There is, however, some confusion surrounding the term “pro-choice” – it does not directly pertain to the spread and use of abortion, but rather, “pro-choicers” advocate the continued legalization of abortion in order to make the choice available and to ensure that women’s fundamental rights are not subjugated. The stance that abortion should be available has its roots in economic concerns, psychological evidence, moral dilemmas, and the Constitution.
Warren, Mary A."Abortion,” in: A Companion to Ethics, " 38.6 Oxford: Blackwell Publishers(1997): 303-314. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
Kaczor, C. R. (2011). The ethics of abortion: Women's rights, human life, and the question of justice. New York: Routledge.