It is almost unanimously agreed upon that the right to life is the most important and sacred right possessed by human beings. With this being said, it comes as no surprise that there are few issues that are more contentious than abortion. Some consider the process of abortion as immoral and consisting of the deprivation of one’s right to life. Others, on the opposite end of the spectrum, see abortion as a liberty and a simple exercise of the right to the freedom of choice. Those who adamantly oppose abortion are regarded as pro-life and those who are supporters of abortion are considered pro-choice by contemporary standards. Even among those who advocate abortion, there are discrepancies in their views such as up until what point in the pregnancy is abortion morally permissible. In my opinion, abortion is morally permissible at any stage in a woman’s pregnancy. This is ethically acceptable because a woman should have the right to control what goes on within her body. Along with this, fetuses are still far from personhood (having the qualities of a human being); therefore, we cannot liken abortion to any variety of murderous activity. Some argue that women have the right to get an abortion because the fetus uses the women as a source of life, thereby giving the women the discretion to permit what goes on within her body. Without the provided nutrition from the women to the fetus, the fetus would not be able to survive. Now, the issue arises, should the fetus force the women to feed it that temporarily resides within her, feeding off her nutrients, if she does not want it to? Some views believe that the women should be responsible for carrying the fetus until its birth if the act that brought it there (sexual intercourse) was vol... ... middle of paper ... ...ade decided that a woman’s privacy, entailed in the fourteenth amendment, made it acceptable for woman to have more discretion on the status of their pregnancy and whether or not to have an abortion. However, abortions were only acceptable when it involved “defending prenatal life and protecting the health of the mother” (Roe v. Wade, Morality and Moral Controversies, 209). Although this case took a step in the right direction by giving women some direction with abortion, I feel it could have done a better job by making abortion legal under all circumstances seeing how it is morally justifiable from every aspect from the motivations to the process itself. Works Cited Arthur, John, and Scalet, Steven, eds. Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Eighth Edition, 2009.
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Show MoreCahn, Steven M. and Peter Markie, Ethics: History, Theory and Contemporary Issues. 4th Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
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...
For over two centuries abortion has been an issue of controversy within the United States; furthermore, at the heart of this debate lies the standoff between advocates of pro-life and of pro-choice. Individuals who identify as pro-life strongly oppose abortion, believing it to be unjust and illegal. The argument pro-life advocates often put forth is that the fetus in question qualifies as a human being; therefore, to end its life prematurely is akin to murder. Pro-choice advocates, on the other hand, are strong supporters of placing the power of decision within the mother’s hands and allowing her to determine what is best for both her and her unborn child. (Hopely)
People who in favor of allowing women to make all relevant decisions regarding conception, contraception, pregnancy, and abortion are known as “pro-choice”, while those who in favor of outlawing abortions, and of empowering the government to determine whether abortion should be allowed are known as “pro-life”. Abortion should remain as a legal option for women because the state government has no rights to interfere with a woman’s body; illegal abortions cause more maternal fatalities than legal abortions; and, there is no conclusive evidence or argument that a fetus is equal to a human being and therefore has equal
One of the biggest issue of abortion goes back to the controversial question of when human life actually begins. Many people will often argue that a fetus is a living being from the moment of conception and feel that it deserves the same legal protections as an adult, therefore making it immoral to kill it. Just like in our court system, we would not put an innocent person on death penalty. The fetus has done nothing wrong and has the right to live. As the editor of Christianity Today wrote, "abortion is one of those monumental issues of justice that comes along once in a lifetime. It is violence against children, a hideous act of poisoning or dismembering tiny bodies, then dumping them in a landfill or garbage disposal." On the other hand, those who are for abortion say that a fetus is only a "potential human being." The advocates for legal abortions want the mother to choose whether she keeps the baby or kills it, and the rights of a mother supersede the rights of a baby. John M. Sw...
The following essay will examine the morality of abortion with specific reference to the writings of Don Marquis, Judith Jarvis Thompson, Peter Singer and Mary Anne Warren. I will begin by assessing the strength of the argument provided by Marquis which claims that abortion is impermissible because it deprives a being of a potential “future like ours,” and then go on to consider the writings of Singer, Thomson and Warren to both refute Marquis claims and support my assertion that abortion is morally permissible primarily because of the threat to the freedom and bodily autonomy of women extending the right to life to a foetus in utero would pose.
Over the years, it seems like abortion has had extreme debates on whether it should be legal or not. Abortion is the removal of a baby before it is born. Some people may call the removal of the baby murder. These types of people are called pro-life people because they believe everyone has a right to life no matter the situation. On the other had other people such as myself feel that abortion is a personal right and that it should continue to be legal. These types of people are called pro-choice because they believe that everyone has rights to choices no matter what society and the government thinks. There are multiple reasons why many women have abortions. Whatever the reason any woman feels she should have an abortion should be her legal right to make that decision. I personally wouldn’t agree with a former abortion method called infanticide because in that method the baby was killed directly
Abortion has become the common focus of diverse and influential debate in various societies, especially the U.S. One of the most confrontational topics argued is whether or not abortion is morally ethical. More than forty percent of all women will terminate their pregnancy by abortion at some point in their reproductive lives (Stacey OL). In spite of disagreement by many people, abortion is one of the most widespread medical procedures performed in the United States every single year. Eventhough abortion is opposed by many people, it should stay legal, because it is the right of a women to control herself or her body (Swomley, 1991).
Some may believe that babies are a gift from God and terminating an unborn child is equivalent to murder, which goes against the law of God. In some cases, people consider those who partake in abortions as “killers”, and that no one but God can take someone’s life. Pro-life believers may also think that the life of a fetus should have the same rights as a human being, because the fetus will eventually become a human being itself. Many pro life people argue that if the mother does not want to raise the baby, the mother should still give birth and give the baby away to a safe haven. In doing this the mother would save the baby instead of ending its life. Along with this, there are arguments about certain abortion procedures that inflict pain on the baby and possibly the mother. There is a terrifying procedure that is still being performed in the United States called the partial birth abortion. A partial birth abortion is to terminate a female's pregnancy during the last stages of the pregnancy, roughly after 20 weeks. This procedure is performed at a time is considered late in the pregnancy. An abortion performed this late in a pregnancy, is almost like killing a newborn child, because after 20 weeks, unborn babies are actually able to feel pain at this point while they are being killed or
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.”
The murder of innocents or, a woman’s right to choose; the Pro-Life/ Pro-Choice Debate, Which side are you on? The issue of abortion has been a topic of interest not only in the medical world but also in the political and religious worlds as well. The pro-life argument states that at conception the fetus is a baby and terminating it is taking a life. The pro-choice argument states that the unborn fetus, not baby, is just a blob of tissue and your terminating a pregnancy not a child. Both sides of the argument will be discussed in this essay along with the views of the church, politicians, women who have had abortion, and even a women who use to worked for Planned Parenthood.
Abortion’s legalization through Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade, has allowed for one in three pregnancies to end in abortion. This means that 1.5 million abortions are performed in the United States each year (Flanders 3). It ranks among the most complex and controversial issues, arousing heated legal, political, and ethical debates. The modern debate over abortion is a conflict of competing moral ideas and of fundamental human rights: to life, to privacy, to control over one's own body. Trying to come to a compromise has proven that it one cannot please all of the people on each side of the debate.
For hundreds of years, the United States of America has been a country defined by its promising opportunities and freedom. However, America has proven many times it is not the promised land that many residents of other countries have viewed it to be. Issues like euthanasia, death penalty, freedom of speech, and abortion have given rise to questions of the freedom in America. Abortion has proven to be one of the more tenacious issues that has brought controversy to America. In the Encyclopedia Britannica, abortion is defined as “the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus before it has reached the stage of viability” (Encyclopedia Brittanica). In simple terms, having an abortion is a pregnant woman choosing to not deliver her child. The Guttmacher Institute provides that there are 6.6 million pregnancies in the United States each year, and 51% are unintended (Guttmacher Institute). Further facts from the Guttmacher Institute states that around 358,000 women die per year because of pregnancy and the United States accounts for 60% of those maternal deaths (Guttmacher Institute). There is an estimated over 1 million abortions in the United States per year (Worldometers Real Time World Statistics). Death is one of the reasons of why women decide to have an abortion. More reasons in modern society include fear of parents, unplanned pregnancies, and financial instability. The controversy surrounding abortion is revolved around the two opposing sides which includes pro-life, the argument that abortion should be illegal, and pro-choice, in which people argue women should have the choice of whether or not to have an abortion. People in favor of pro-life support their decision with many arguments. They state that a fetus is considered a h...
Abortion, the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life, can either be spontaneous or induced. It is called "the knowing destruction of the life of an unborn child." (Mass General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12K) When abortion occurs spontaneously, it is called a miscarriage. However, when the loss of a fetus is caused intentionally, it is regarded as a moral issue. Abortion destroys the lives of helpless, innocent children and is illegal in many countries. An estimate of 1.2 million are performed each year. In retrospect, an estimate 38,010,378 innocent children were aborted since 1973 when the process was legalized.
Abortion is defined as a procedure that is done to remove an embryo or fetus from the uterus of its mother in order to prevent its birth (Roth, 2005). Abortion is categorized as a bioethical issue because it relates to the morals of biomedical advances, policies and research. Abortion is a difficult subject that can involve personal morals and beliefs, legality and religious values. The issue is often viewed from either the side of pro-life, which places emphasis on the fetus and its right to life or pro-choice, which emphasizes the rights of the mother to decide the appropriate action (Roth, 2005). This brings the ethical question of should the government have the right to outlaw abortion into debate. The two viewpoints of pro-life and pro-choice explore the two main moral issues concerning abortion (Roth, 2005).