In the early 1960’s, inspired by the antiwar and civil rights movements, women began to fight earnestly for their rights. They took on the taboo subject of abortion, began to tell personal stories to other women about their experiences, rallied, and marched for pro-choice. With the help from civil liberty groups, reform came gradually. A few states legalized abortion but the cost was still high, and with very few allowances, little to no women benefited. The struggle continued. On January 22, 1973 in the historic Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court banned state laws prohibiting abortion. It allowed women and their doctors to make decisions about their reproductive rights in the first months of pregnancy. Today, many people believe abortion should be illegal. How would Aristotle view abortion? I believe that if men were able to reproduce, terminating a pregnancy would not be frowned upon, but instead considered to be socially acceptable. Would Aristotle’s view be the same? Aristotle’s theory of natural law, discussed in Niocmachean Ethics, is mainly teleological because he focuses on the end of all our actions, and how they should lean to happiness. He believed that there were four causes to every object in the world including humans. These were the, material cause – out of what the object was composed of, the efficient cause – what is recognized as being part of the object, the formal cause – the purpose, end, goal or aim of the object. For example, the material cause of a spoon would be metal, the efficient cause would be its shape and structure, the formal cause would be a factory and the final cause would be to use for eating. For Aristotle, the final cause was the most important for humans because it focuses... ... middle of paper ... ...in equality among people and that the hardships of humankind could be cured by equity, the fair sharing of resources among members of the community. Most likely, he would have opposed to the idea of abortion because that treatment is not fair to the baby, and that they have the right to life. Aristotle believed that human life was present in the fetus during the time of conception and that it had a soul and there was present human life. It comes down to human rights, and whether the fetus should have any, and Aristotle believes it does because of equality. The fetus is different from other livings things such as plants and cells which the human body kills all the time and so what is the difference between killing? The fetus produces its own cells to develop more humanistic characteristics, so, as Aristotle would conclude, it’s different from other living organisms.
Although the history of how abortion became such a taboo act, forcing many women to attempt to self-induce, may be unclear, one thing is evident: the criminalization of abortions has greatly harmed women in America. The change from common law, which allowed abortions prior to quickening, to codified laws that prohibited it, was the beginning of the criminalization of abortion. In addition, the actions of the American Medical Association to get rid of non-traditional practitioners, and the way the Church changed its perspectives on abortion played a crucial role in making it harder for women to obtain abortions. Due to these actions, the danger of abortions increased because the only ones that were accessible were often underground, and unsafe. If it were not these occurrences many women would have been more likely to survive abortions.
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
Many arguments in the abortion debate assume that the morality of abortion depends upon the moral status of the foetus. While I regard the moral status of the foetus as important, it is not the central issue that determines the moral justifiability of abortion. The foetus may be awarded a level of moral status, nevertheless, such status does not result in the prescription of a set moral judgement. As with many morally significant issues, there are competing interests and a variety of possible outcomes that need to be considered when making a moral judgement on abortion. While we need to determine the moral status of the foetus in order to establish the type of entity we are dealing with, it does not, however, exist in a moral vacuum. There are other key issues requiring attention, such as the moral status and interests of the pregnant woman who may desire an abortion, and importantly, the likely consequences of aborting or not aborting a particular foetus. Furthermore, I assert that moral status should be awarded as a matter of degree, based upon the capacities of sentience and self-consciousness an entity possesses. In a bid to reach a coherent conclusion on the issue, the moral status of both foetus and woman, along with the likely results of aborting a particular foetus, must be considered together. Given the multiple facets requiring consideration, I assert that utilitarianism (Mill 1863) offers a coherent framework for weighing and comparing the inputs across a variety of situations, which can determine whether it is ever morally justifiable to have an abortion.
To ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men in jobs, education, and political participation, the National Organization for women was formed in 1966 (Foner 944). The sixties also marked the beginning of a public campaign to repeal state laws that banned abortion or left the decision to terminate a pregnancy to physicians instead of the woman (Foner 945). Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of a thing. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fighting against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
Women have always been minorities throughout the entire US history and have always been put down by men simply because they are women. Women have always been limited in what ever they do. For example, women generally get payed less than men if both are performing the same job and work the same amount of hours because the stereotypes of women that they cannot preform the same tasks as well as men. Women are not only discriminated in jobs but are also restricted to what they do with their bodies when they want to under go an abortions by the state and and federal laws. According to Pema Levy, “In the past three years, states across the country have passed more abortion restrictions - - more than 200 laws - -than in the preceding decade” (n.p.). These laws are making it more difficult, expansive and the access for women to under go an abortion, which can be a problem for women that may have a miscarriage or women that can not financially support a baby and may not able to provide...
In 1900 a law was passed banning women from having an abortion. Before 1900, abortions were a common practice and usually performed by a midwife, but doctors saw this as a financial threat and pushed for a law making abortions illegal. From 1900 until 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a women’s right to have an abortion, women who wanted to have an abortion did so secretly. These secret abortions were performed
Even to this day, women have not reached maximum equality, but the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade has helped the women’s equality movement drastically take a step in the right direction. Prior to the case, women had their rights very limited and restricted. Everyone was and still is entitled to their basic rights, however pregnant women were not. Their first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendment rights were violated and were not addressed until Jane Roe testified in court. The decision made by the court still has a lasting impact even to this day. The landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade was not just a win for Jane Roe, but a win for all women as it helped break the barrier that surrounded women’s equality.
But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.
Before abortions became legal, women felt the need to turn to someone for an abortion that was not sanitary or performed the correct way, many either died or left extremely ill. One specific woman felt the need to bring to everyone’s attention, that she should have the right to abort her baby if she wanted to. She fought for her right and many stood behind her and supported her. The case Roe v. Wade legalized abortions in 1973. Norma McCorvey, known as Jane Roe, fought for women’s rights against the state of Texas on two different occasions. Roe v. Wade made a huge impact to women around the country, by legalizing safe and reliable abortions.
In a pluralistic culture of unwanted pregnancy, there exists a contradiction between a relative sense of morality and the democratic ideal of free choice. Aristotle provided the first written record of this irresolvable contradiction in his book Politics, saying, "When couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun; what may or may not be lawfully done in these cases depends on the question of life and sensation." (1) The controversy has always consisted of two sides: "Pro-Lifers", who believe that abortion is morally wrong and should not be allowed, and "Pro-Choicers", who support the woman's right to choose the outcome of her pregnancy in all cases. There is also a large group of people who fall somewhere in between, believing that abortion should only be allowed under certain circumstances. To this day, abortion continues to be a topic of dispute, with each side offering many of the same arguments that have been offered for several millennia. Those concerned with the issue saw this played out most recently in the presidential election, a very close race in which abortion was a key factor in many citizens' votes.
Abortion by definition means the way of ending pregnancy by removing fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently. Abortion is an extremely debatable issue because while some people are completely against it, others believe that a woman should have the right to choose. Abortion decision is like killing own child or killing an innocent human life before coming out from uterus. I will explain how a human life is being destroyed, the process in which they destroy the fetus, and how to avoid this situation all together I believe that abortion is morally impermissible.
The Nicomachean Ethics, written by Aristotle, represents his most important contribution within the field of Ethics; it is a collection of ten books, covering a variety of interesting topics, throughout the collection. Aristotle tries to draw a general understanding of the human good, exploring the causes of human actions, trying to identify the most common ultimate purpose of human actions. Indeed, Aristotelian’s ethics, also investigates through the psychological and the spiritual realms of human beings. Without pretending to exhaust with too many references, it would be rather useful to focus on the most criticized part of the philosopher’s attempt, which is also the very starting point of his masterpiece, identified as eudaimonia (happiness, well being) and ergon (function), in Aristotelian terms.
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).
In Aristotle point of view abortion would be considered morality wrong because he believes everyone has a person and we were designed for a purpose. Virtue of Ethics “can evaluate the morality of behavior by examining the moral character that such behavior produces” (Velasquez 488). According to Smith abortion is wrong because it promotes a moral character ‘characterized by careless, irresponsibility, dishonesty, and lack of principles” (Velasquez 488). This theory emphasizes that everyone should take responsibility for their actions and that our choices defined our character. I tend to agree with this we are all responsible for our actions and those actions tend to have consequences that tend to affect us personality. This view reminds me of the view of adultery cover in this chapter someone who commits adultery also says a lot about their character because it shows that we cannot trust on this person because they just can keep their word or because they are your seeking pleasure without really considering the consequences and who they can affect.
Abortion is an extremely controversial issue and one that is continually on the forefront of debates. Those who oppose the idea (Pro-lifers), thinks it is an act of woman playing “God” who live from who dies. Yet, whether an unborn baby constitutes a normal person is questionable; a pregnant woman, on the other hand, has the undeniable right to choose whether she wants to have a child or not. Therefore, the decision to have an abortion is the personal choice and responsibility of the woman, because prohibiting abortion impedes freedom of choice and endangers the physical and mental health of women.