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sociological perspectives on abortion
sociological perspectives on abortion
sociological theory on abortion
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Today’s day and age, everyone faces problems, and people use their own worldview and opinions to answer them. Many individuals allow these worldviews to dictate their choices in certain situation, even though it may affect them in the long run. Some people are easily persuaded in allowing others to get inside their head and make themselves second guess their choices. For example, Susan is in that predicament because she has to make a tough decision of letting her unborn child live or not. The case for Susan is to decide if she wants to abort a child or allow the child to live with Down syndrome. Susan has asked Richard, an influential professor of evolutionary biology, for his advice about the abortion. Richard has suggested that Susan abort the child because the child will suffer for a lifetime. Susan is torn between giving up the child or …show more content…
Christians believe as stated in the e-book that humanity was created in God’s image (Diffey, 2014). Therefore this child was created in His image and Christians would say that the child has a purpose. The child may suffer for a lifetime, but God also heals so there is hope the child will be okay. As for Susan, if she trusts in the Lord with everything, she will be able to have peace in her life and manage to balance her family and job. As a result of the child suffering but living, Susan will be able to have the child she has been longing for quite some time. Susan will not only have joy, but also be relieved that she will not have to suffer from regret. This will make Susan a strong women because according to Jody Lynee Madeira, in her online article, “regret is more suggestive of women 's deep reflection on the abortion decision” (Madeira, 2014, para 1). Meaning many other women regret the decision they make when they have an abortion, however, Susan will be strong enough to make the right decision and be happy with her
Thomson provides the example of being hooked up for nine months to provide dialysis to an ailing violinist to expose how a fetus’s right to life does not supersede a mother’s right to make medical decisions about her body (48-49). I find that this thought experiment especially helpful in understanding how even though a fetus does have a right to life, because the continuation of their life hinges on the consent of their mother to use her body, it falls to the mother to choose whether or not to allow the fetus to develop to term.
Judith Jarvis Thomson, a 20th century philosopher, offers her argument defending abortion in her paper, “A Defense of Abortion”. She states initially that the fetus has a right to life, although contrary to her argument, she uses it as a premise to develop her thoughts. In short, Thomson says that the fetus’s right to life does not outweigh the woman’s right to control her body. She forces readers to participate in a thought experiment as she gives an odd example about a violinist suffering from kidney failure. The violist is facing death and in order to prevent it, he needs your help. Because you are the only one with his blood type, you are the only hope for him. You have been kidnapped by the Society of Music lovers and, without your consent, hooked up to him and you are filtering his blood and keeping him alive. In order to save his life, you must remain connected to him and support him for nine whole months. Thomson then asks if it is morally wrong to disagree to remain connected to the violinist. It is quite noble to agree to save the man’s life but should his right to life automatically force you to sacrifice nine months of yours?
This means waiting longer, or possibly never, to start her family. She does get to keep her career, and if she is able to get pregnant again then hopefully the next baby won’t have any defects so she can have the family she is wanting. This also goes along with the advice she is getting from her doctor as well as her friends, however this has consequences that aren’t often discussed by those in favor of abortion. Whether or not they believe it, killing a baby does not sit well with one’s conscience. “A 1987 study of women who suffered from post-abortion trauma found that 60 percent had experienced suicidal ideation, 28 percent had attempted suicide, and 18 percent had attempted suicide more than once, often several years after the event.3” (Reardon D.C. 2005) Killing anyone will have psychological effects on a person, but killing their own child could prove unbearable. In addition to psychological effects there is also evidence of physical effects “Brind concludes, "Induced abortion is indeed a risk factor for breast cancer, despite the strong and pervasive bias in the recent literature in the direction of viewing abortion as safe for women."” (2006) A persons actions have consequences and God does punish us for our sins. God has given Susan a special gift in this child. Choosing to reject God’s gift would have consequences much worse than choosing to accept it, or better embrace it and thank God for it. Susan has a very
Talking about abortion brings out an emotional response in many women. This is because having an abortion takes a massive emotional toll on some women. As Nanyjo Mann said, three weeks after having an abortion, “I became preoccupied with the thoughts of death. I fantasized about how I would die. My baby struggled for two hours” (Reardon, 1987, p. xviii). In the forward of the book “Aborted Women, Silent No More” Nanyjo, a women telling her story of abortion, goes on to tell about feeling unstable with herself after having an abortion. She wanted to prove to herself that destroying others didn’t hurt, but it does (Reardon, 1987, p. xix-xx). Continuing in reading Nanyjo’s story, she tells all of the effects and feelings she went through after having an abortion including stress, depression and low self esteem. Any girl under the age of 18 would have an even harder time dealing with this type of stress. Teenagers are already seeking their identity and worry about their grades, looks, and peer acceptance. Going through the post abortion stress all by themselves would be overwhelming and potentially put them at risk for mental breakdown.
My name is Brittney Elbl. I’m 21 years old, attended the University of Iowa with a major in Journalism and Mass Communications, and now work as a full time journalist at TIME magazine. As a magazine focused on current events, we were very interested when abortion debates arose in conjunction with the 2014 election cycle. Abortion debates have been circulating since the dawn of its legality in the early 1900’s and still continue today. With this said, the recent election is spurring a vast increase in these debates claiming, “As a society, we cannot be afraid to discuss social and moral issues” (Raymond). As you can probably guess, there are very conflicting opinions on this topic, ranging from the Pro-Life advocates, demanding that abortion is murder and focused on the abolition of abortion all together, to the Pro-Choice advocates, who believe women should be allowed to make their own choice in what they do with their body. In each group’s opinion, there is not much of a grey area between the two conflicting ideas, which leaves little room for compromise. This kind of extreme opin...
Twenty-one percent of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion (“Induced ABortion in the United States). Abortion is murdering defenseless babies who would‘ve otherwise had a happy life with a couple that is unable to have their own child. Is killing an innocent person ever moral?
Anderson brings up point after point to support his opinion on pro-choice abortion. Anderson writes about how the government should have no say in a woman’s decision to abort even if she is past the first trimester: “Pregnancy and motherhood affect every aspect of a woman’s life - public and private, emotional and physical - and Roe v. Wade confirmed that it was an invasion of privacy for the government to step in and make reproductive decisions on a woman’s behalf” (Anderson, 2015). Anderson explains how he believes a woman who decides to have an abortion does it because it will negatively affect their life in a way that will be changed forever. The article goes on to explain some reasons why women choose to have abortions. To back up his
Abortion has always been a hard decision for a women to have to make. Mainly because people have always viewed abortion as either morally wrong or not wrong at all. Everyone has different thoughts and concerns when it comes to abortion. There are a numerous amount of reasons why a women has to choose abortion, whether it be rape, the feeling of being unprepared, not ready age wise or their life is in danger, whatever the case may be it should be their choice.
Abortion has so many different view points on the topic, some positive some negative. Roe verse Wade played a huge part in the decision making process on abortion. Everyone has their own opinions about abortion but the opinion concerning when life begins had a significant effect on a person’s views concerning whether they are for or against abortion. The studies of long term effects from abortion on women are traumatic and devastating. They can include mental, physical, and emotional problems after an abortion.
The first theory that supports Tina’s choice to get an abortion for the quality of life is Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill’s theory of utilitarianism. Utility is the property that aims to prevent evil, unhappiness, mischief, or pain and promotes benefit, pleasure, good, or happiness (March 3, Slide #14). Relating utilitarianism to Tina’s situation, it would be morally acceptable for her to get an abortion because she would be providing herself with benefit and eliminating pain.
When the smoke clears and the dust settles, only the women who experienced such events in their lives should speak on the psychological effects of abortions. However, I do know, as the poet so puts it (Banh, 2014) that, I knew them all though faintly, I loved them all and I will always have an open space in my heart for all my un-born children.
Being a mother is a lifelong job that requires copious time, energy, and money. There are myriad different reasons in which a woman would consider getting an abortion. The decision is often tragic and painful for the mother. It is one of the biggest choices a woman will make. Many people have strong beliefs about abortion, and if a mother makes a decision that they do not agree with they sometimes turn against the mother, and enkindle egregious feelings about their decision for the rest of their life. Indeed a woman may not get an abortion for selfish reasons or out of convenience, but out of a desire to protect certain important values such as her own health or a decent standard of living for the other members of the family. Additional intentions for having abortion include rape, financial difficulties, obligation by family members, or danger to the baby’s health (Roleff
Most people agree that abortion should be a rare procedure. To accomplish that ideal, our society must proactively, by providing resources and support, offer pregnant women the hope that carrying their babies to term is not the end of their plans and dreams. Then their difficult decisions would really be true choices vice acts of desperation. After all, it is just as much “pro-choice” for a woman to take charge of her life and courageously carr...
Today many people ask the question, does abortion have severe psychological effects? People that are pro-life claim that most women who abort their unborn child suffer from many negative effects, such as guilty feelings, anxiety, depression, loss, anger and even suicide. In one case a woman had an abortion assuming that it would take away all of the stress of being pregnant and thinking about the consequences of having a child. Afterwards she said, “I was unprepared for the maze of emotions that hit me after I had the procedure. Instead of feeling relieved, I was awash in anxiety and confusion” (Lawlor, 2002, par.3). The disorder of having negative effects after an abortion is called Post Abortion Syndrome or PAS. In order to tell if a woman has PAS she has to be completely honest with herself and admit the feelings that she has. The symptoms that most women have are strong feelings of guilt and confusion. Some cases are much more extreme, for example, there was a seventeen year old who developed lethargy, malaise, and vomiting. Doctors where unable to reach a conclusion about her condition until the anniversary of her abortion when she experienced overt psychosis. Mental examinations also revealed signs of hallucinations, as well as psychotic thought processes. Research has shown that in most cases women will go on and say they are fine about the whole thing, and many years later be ...
Many women describe it as a privilege and miracle, while others consider the act itself of conceiving and carrying another human being as an inexplicable feeling. Those women that enjoy the opportunity of being a mother cherish every moment and appreciate it as a wonderful gift. Although this stands as a beautiful thing, there exists women choosing to abort. Women of all ages may face the decision of whether or not to terminate the life that they carry in their womb through the abortion process. Nevertheless, late term abortion results in terrifying consequences. The procedure causes health complications for the mother, inflicts pain on a living fetus, and kills the unborn baby.