Bodily autonomy is a concept that is considered to be a human right. Bodily autonomy means that a person has control over who or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. Bodily autonomy is why you cannot be forced to donate your blood, tissue, or organs, even if you’re dead, even in the circumstance that your blood, tissue, and organs would save fifteen lives. Bodily autonomy is why someone cannot touch you, have sex with you, or use your body in any way without your continuous consent. A fetus is using and surviving from somebody else’s body parts. Therefore, under bodily autonomy, the fetus is in that person’s body by permission, not by right, and requires a person’s continuous consent to remain in that position. If the person …show more content…
Women have a moral right to decide what they do with their bodies. For the most part, female bodies past the age of twelve are capable of holding, developing, and “incubating” a baby; with the help of antibiotics, cesareans, and powerful drugs, girls are able to survive the actual process of childbirth. But being able to have a child and being a parent are two very different concepts. By agreeing to parent a child you are investing and ensuring at least eighteen years of love, support, health, money, time, and dedication. It can be argued that raising a child is the biggest and most transformative thing that most of us will ever do and the notion that a woman should just “go with it” upon finding themselves pregnant after rape or a broken condom completely diminishes the role of motherhood. I’m pro-choice because just like humans, contraceptives are imperfect. The Pill has become one of the most sought after forms of birth control with headlines blaring the famous, “99% effective.” With its fifty year legacy, it easily makes the Pill the oldest and seemingly the most reliable contraceptive. Under perfect use the pill works 99% of the time. However, people are imperfect, and each year in our imperfect world, one out of every eleven women on the
...ions over her own body; whether it is parenthood, adoption, contraception, or yes, abortion. After all, it is entirely plausible for people to be personally pro-life but politically pro-choice – this suggests that they respect each individuals’ rights over his or her own body and recognize that each woman should be allowed to have options. Regardless of whether or not she chooses to have the child, it is the fact that she has a choice that is crucial, and it is imperative that each woman have the freedom of individual autonomy. In order for this to occur, abortion must continue to be legal. Ultimately, being pro-choice is not necessarily advocating the use of abortion – it is about ensuring that abortion is legal so that women may have the option to exercise their right to individual autonomy and make the decisions that best reflects their stance in life.
Both sides of the argument, pro-choice and pro-life, have many valid points to back their opinion, and that is partly why this continues to be such a big debate. The other part is that it is very much a political issue. I stand firmly on the side of pro-choice in that that women should have the right to control their bodies, and make this decision, even though I kind of feel bad for the unborn children. She is so young she deserves to have the choice over her own body for many reasons.
However, we have reverted back to the case of rape. If a fetus conceived voluntarily has the right not to be aborted due to how it was conceived, then the fetus conceived from rape should also have that same right. Instead of creating a distinction of cases where the fetus has a right to use the body of a pregnant person, Thomson instead makes a distinction of when abortion would be morally wrong.
People often use the topic of abortion because they are issues for young women. “Among many younger feminists, the matter of abortion rights is looked upon as part of a ‘reproductive justice’ that includes access to birth-control and improving health care for the poor and minority women.” (Fouhy N.P. 1) Even though abortion is a choice sometimes it’s not an option due to multiple circumstances such as financial reasons, age, and parental consent. The legalization of RU-486 allows women the opportunity to make a choice regarding having an abortion. This drug has given women a new way to keep abortion a personal and private event. The pill and water has made the word “choice” a meaningful definition. (Quindlen 60) Women should have the right to decide whether having an abortion is a feasible choice. The government should not have the legal right to dictate what a woman can do to her body. It is her body so the choice should be hers after
In “Autonomy and Benevolent Lies” Thomas Hill presents the case of benevolent lies and if they are morally troublesome. Philosophers have been debating the moral difference between a malicious lie, told in order to hurt people, and a benevolent lie. According to Hill benevolent lies are “intended to benefit the person deceived, for no ulterior motives, and they actually succeed in giving comfort without causing main” (Thomas E. Hill). Many argue that benevolent lies are no different from a malicious lie because telling a lie is morally wrong. Others argue benevolent lies and malicious lies differ because of the deliberate intentions. Hill provides the reader with three cases of a benevolent lies. The three cases he presents are the possible suicide of a student which a Professor lies to the student’s mother, the
In order for the pro-life argument to be valid, it must have both a true premise and true conclusion. It falls short of validity by assuming that a fetus up to 22 weeks old is a person, and has its own rights independent of its host, or what we often refer to as its mother. First we must recognize the subtle, yet extremely important distinction between a human being and a person. It is obvious that a fetus is a member of the human ...
For some, abortion is a touchy subject like politics and religion. In America, abortion has always been a controversial topic of discussion. The Supreme Court in the case Roe vs Wade case set the way of guidelines and the right for women to have an abortion if she chooses. In 2015 abortions is still an ongoing debate amongst religious groups, politicians and normal citizens. People that are for the rights of women to abort are often criticized and ridiculed for standing up for their personal beliefs. There are people who have conditioned their minds to think that women should not be allowed to have abortions if she was not raped or a result of incest, which I strongly disagree with that type of thinking. However, it is the law of the land, it is a women’s right to choose and she has to live with the psychological effects of her choice.
... who are not ready to take on the challenges and responsibilities of raising children. To have millions of poor, homeless and unhappy children in the world to cope with life’s injustices would be far more heartbreaking than extracting an embryo from a uterus. Abortion is a very complex issue that should remain a personal decision. The bottom line is that each woman should make her own decision based on her own morals and beliefs.
Also pro-choice people say “what if she was raped? Then it should be allowed.” Well these claims can be exposed. The claim that abortion will save the child from a life of abuse can be disproven by a 1973 report, in 1973 abortion became legal in the United States, there were 167,000 cases of child abuse and neglect reported. Yet in 1980 there were 785,100 cases - an increase of 370% from 1973. Then in 1987 there were 2,025,200 cases reported, which represents an increase of 1112%. A portion of this increase is due to better reporting, still experts agree that these figures reflect a real trend toward higher rates of abuse. Abortion didn’t help stop child abuse, the legalization of abortion has actually contributed to its extreme rise due to the emotional effects abortion has on women 's self-esteem and the ability to deal with stress. The other myth is that abortion is used mainly as a last resort, mostly for pregnancies that result from rape or incest. The Alan Guttmacher Institute did a study called "Why Women Have Abortions," women gave specific reasons why they had an abortion. The top three answers were the mother was unready for responsibility, can 't afford baby now, or concern about how having a baby would change her life. The three reasons which came in last place and were tied at 1 percent were, the mother was a victim of rape or incest. Husband or partner wanted the abortion. Didn 't want others to know she has had sex or is pregnant. Therefore, abortion is not mainly used as a last resort, but a form of birth
Being pro-choice advocates a womans right to control her own body, especially her right to an induced abortion (The Free Dictionary). Every person has the right to do what they wish to their own bodies. Before taking the pill, the patient must sign a patient agreement; agreeing that they have been informed of all risks, side effects, emergency contact information, instructions, and promising to return for the second and third follow-up visits. Since the patient has read and signed the patient agreement, they’re aware of what they’re doing to themselves. Different women have different reasons as to why they want an abortion. Having an abortion, either the medical or surgical way, a woman has the rights to do ...
Pro-Choice advocates believe that abortion should be legalized because they feel it is necessary to empower women with choice. They have strong opinions that women are not subordinate, so they ought to be allowed to make moral decisions and should not be forced to have a child, but why should the child have to suffer for the wrongdoings of his mother? Since only women can get pregnant, male legislators have no right to vote on anything abortion-related because it doesn’t affect him personally. If an innocent woman is raped and later becomes pregnant, should she be forced to have the baby? Well, according to pro-choice believers, she should have the right to decide for herself if she wants an abortion. An innocent unborn baby definitely should not be punished for the crime and poor decisions of his father. The mother must stick out the tough nine months that it takes to be pregnant in order to save the life of the faultless developing child inside of her. Adoption is always an option, and a much better alternative to murder. Yes, a woman does have a choice, but there is always one morally right way to go when con...
It is saddening to see humans of the female gender, who find themselves in a situation that requires introducing a new life into the world; to abort such a precious gift. Many may wonder how these poor, innocent, unborn children are then discarded after the abortion procedure. One cannot fathom the reason of these gruesome murders that happens within these medical facilities. Babies are disposed in the red waste bins of these facilities, and later incinerated. Some may either be flushed down garbage disposals or even be sold off for research purposes. The issue of abortion is not just a social one, but also a human rights issue among the unborn children. I believe if the human rights of these children has been violated, then all other rights of humans are certainly meaningless.
The argument can be made that the fetus deserves the same level of personhood that children and adults do. This can be countered with the fact that children and adults are able to live without occupying the body of another person. The point at which personhood occurs may never be established because of the contrasting views for and against personhood and it would be very difficult to establish any kind of middle ground on personhood.
A person being pregnant and wishing they weren't is probably the worst feelings a woman can have. A women knowing that if they brought a child into the world and they didn't want it, or they would have to give it up for adoption is such a disheartening way to start off, and mother and the un-born child would be so much better off if they were to terminate the pregnancy and wait for a more appropriate time, or in the case of rape, put the past behind them and move on. Women should have the choice because not everyone knows what the situation was. In today’s society people have attached shame with the word abortion. When people hear of abortions they automatically assume it was the mothers fault and she didn’t use protection or may...
Yet, I have clearly shown that the fetus is a separate person with its own heart, lungs, brain, and all different body organs. The oppositions would say that it is the woman’s right to terminate her own pregnancies. Yet, in the eyes of the law two charges are filed when someone kills a woman and her fetus, so how is it her right to kill another human being? A woman doesn’t have four arms, four legs, two heads, four kidneys, two hearts, and two brains… so how is it only her body?