Religion and Medical Ethics

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Religion and Medical Ethics

I am discussing the issues that are put forward by Christians

concerning the sanctity of life in relation to abortion and what their

beliefs are. There are no Biblical scriptures that deal directly with

abortion; however I will refer to passages in the Bible that refer to

life and other relevant areas. Abortion is the termination of a

pregnancy and can be defined as the deliberate destruction of a

foetus, causing its death. The 1967 Abortion Act allows a woman to

terminate or end her pregnancy up to the 24th week; however there is

no time limit if there is a high risk to her life or if the foetus has

major abnormalities. A woman must also have the permission or consent

of two doctors that agree upon the decision to have an abortion.

People who agree with abortion are often referred to as pro-choice and

some of the reasons for doing so are; every woman should have their

own choice and this should be respected; if the woman is expecting a

severely handicapped child or if the pregnancy is a result of rape.

However there are also people who completely disagree with abortion

and think that it is inhumane, this group is often referred to as

pro-life. Some reasons they disagree with abortion are; even as a

foetus, the baby, as a person, has rights and these should be

respected; there are a lot of people who are desperate to adopt but

there are few babies up for adoption. Roman Catholics are taught that

abortion is never right, they believe that life is sacred and look to

abortion as murder.

You need to determine ‘Is the foetus human, or merely a mass of

tissue?’ If you think that a foetus is a human then...

... middle of paper ...

...ieve that capital punishment it is right as long the

right criminal is charged and there is no shadow of doubt. A Christian

is taught that murder is wrong; because it was one of the Ten

Commandments that God gave to Moses in the wilderness these

commandments are a touchstone for Christians.

‘Do not commit murder’ Exodus 20: 13

I believe that you cannot say whether you believe this statement is

right or wrong until you have taken every situation individually;

until you have looked at all the facts and you have considered what

you believe in the other areas of life and death. This is what I found

out doing this piece of coursework.

Bibliography

The King James Study Bible, Nelson

The Penguin English Dictionary

Internet

http://disabilitymuseum.org/glossary.php

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/

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