Abortion : The Morality Of Abortion

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.

There are many common pregnancy alternatives, but most often the resulting decision is abortion because it is effortless. Abortion is endings a women’s pregnancy by removing or forcing a fetus or embryo from the mother’s womb before it is able to survive on its own. Not all abortions are purposely done some are spontaneous like when a women that has a miscarriage. Rather abortion is done purposely or naturally it is a worldwide complication as to it being wrong or right. Abortion is an ethical issue that will be analyzed according to a personal worldview and Christian worldview. Ethical thinking will be examined by value-based decisions that address abortion from the perspective of a Christian worldview and comparing it to a personal assumption by addressing ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison.

In this essay, the morality of the abortion of a fetus will be discussed in a drama involving a married couple named Deb and Derek (Smolkin, Bourgeois & Findler, 2010). For clarification purposes, we must first define the topic of this discussion; abortion is defined as the act in which a female voluntarily terminates her pregnancy where this act is legally permitted (Warren, 1973). Deb who is 16 weeks pregnant discovers that the fetus she is carrying will most likely be born mentally challenged (Smolkin et al., 2010). As the drama unfolds, the couple ponders the negative impact this child will have on their business, marriage as well as the quality of life that their child will experience if it is carried to term (Smolkin

Abortion and the morality of it has been a hot topic for years in the United States although it has been carried out for centuries in different cultures. Abortion is a medical procedure deliberately terminating a pregnancy. Abortions usually happen within the first 28 weeks of pregnancy and are considered an outpatient procedure. The first abortion laws were passed by Britain in 1803 and by 1880 most abortions in the U.S. were illegal, except for those that were performed to save the life of a woman. This exception to the rule gives insight into the battle that exists today and the ethical debate of abortion.

The public debate over abortion in the United States has intensified since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. Advocates on each side of the debate often hint that we must select between two stark options: “Pro-life” and “Pro-choice.” Strong pro-life advocates claim that abortion is immoral (except perhaps in a few cases) because the fetus is a human being from the

The history of 'abortion ' in the United States is more complex than most people imagine. Abortion and issues surrounding abortion are involved in intense political and public debate in the United States, law varies from state to state with regards to state legislature of abortion. 'Until 1973, the control of abortion, was almost entirely in the hands of the government of the state. ' (Vile. M. J. C, 1999, P203) The focal legal debate surrounding the issue of abortion is whether a foetus has a basic legal right to live, which turns on to the question on when a foetus is potentially a person (when it becomes 'viable ') and therefore should be ultimately protected from this point. 'Pollitt identifies that to have the legal right to have an abortion, was a transformative event for women’s liberation: it saved women from death and injury; and enabled them to commit to education and work. It also changed how women saw themselves; as mothers by choice not by fate.’ (Kennedy. S, 2014, P56) This essay will critically discuss the role and variety of actors involved in the discussion of abortion in the United States, and the impact they have politically, socially and economically, by critically exploring relevant theory.

Abortion has been a debating issue for many decades. Most of the countries, permit abortion, however, some religions and countries consider abortion to be morally and ethically impermissible. In Canada, the abortion was legalized in 1988 based on the fact that the law should not force a women to carry a fetus beyond her priorities as it would interfere with her body and her own securities towards life. Many would argue against this view by stating that a fetus does have a right to live and thus, abortion is morally wrong. I believe that abortion is morally and ethically permissible as long as it does not violate significant rights of others.

The sound of a tiny heartbeat fills the room. There is so much tension in the air. In the year 2012 there were 699,202 reported abortions that occurred in America. An abortion is “the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy” (Abortion). This is a very sensitive and controversial topic for most of the population in the United States. Some people believe that abortion is a woman’s choice and she has the right to choose, because it is her body. However, an abundant amount of Americans see a different side of this controversial topic. They view it is as murder. They believe life starts at conception so the unborn babies are humans with a right to live.

Induced abortion is the deliberate ending of a pregnancy before the fetus is viable or capable of surviving outside a female’s body. Abortion has been practiced in every culture since the beginning of civilization” (Kaplan, Tischauser & Chara, 2015). Abortion is one of many controversial issues. It is a topic that is widely debated among many people. Abortion is a difficult topic of discussion, when the baby is a product or rape, or has Down syndrome or deformities. According to my Christian worldview, I will examine the abortion ethical dilemma, and compare it to other options of resolving the dilemma.

Abortion is one of the most controversial topics of all times. The definition most people associate with abortion is the termination of unwanted pregnancy. In their essay, “The Wrong of Abortion”, Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that intentional abortion is unjust and therefore objectively immoral no matter the circumstances. Also, they argue that “the burden of carrying the baby is significantly less than the harm the baby would suffer by being killed; the mother and father have a special responsibility to the child; it follows that intentional abortion (even in few cases where the baby’s death is an unintended but foreseen side effect) is unjust ” (24).

In the article Ethics of Abortion, much of the pro life argument seems to be

“On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion”, an essay written by Mary Anne Warren, defend abortion in any stage of a woman’s pregnancy (pg 468). Warren argues that the potential to become a human being is not the same as being human and deserving the same right to life (pg. 468-472). This essay asserts that in order to be human, one must possess five particular traits (pg. 470). These trait are consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, the ability to communicate, and awareness of oneself (pg. 470). Warren claims that since a fetus has not yet acquired all of the traits, then that fetus is not human and therefore does not have the right to life (pg. 470).

The first ethical issue will be right to life and abortion. Abortion remains controversial and a highly debated subject. The ethical debate concerning abortion is the considerations of a woman’s autonomy and the rights of the woman and the unborn child. The parent/ child relationship and assessing the best interests of potential children also provide considerable scope for ethical discussion. (Jones K, Chaloner C 2007). A factor in the ethical future of abortion is the perception of morality, or of actively ending the life of an unborn human being. This process of deductive reasoning explains the most common anti-abortion argument: First, the fetus is an innocent human being. Second, it is morally wrong to kill an innocent human being and lastly, it is morally wrong to kill a fetus. This reasoning can also be applied to support a viewpoint to those who support abortion. First the fetus has no moral status. Secondly, it is not morally wrong to destroy that which has no moral status. Lastly, it is not morally wrong to destroy a fetus.

Abortion is always argued with different cases and play a main role in medical ethics (blackwell.,p291).It is evidently reasonable for some to argue that in moral situation, abortion is a murder and it should be illegal, while others may claim that abortion is woman’s right when concerning on autonomy ( The abortion debate in Australia). Opponents of making abortion legal claim that abortion is a kind of murder on extend of moral situation. It is always regarded as a sin to kill a person who is no aggressor in most moral communities (new ethics 1). Fetus is a biologically human as it is not just a part of the mothers, such as a lung or a kidney. On the contrary, it is obvious that fetus is human due to he or she has genetic code of human and human parents as well (abortion myth p5). Moreover, it has potentiality to be a person with primary moral worth (text book p210-211). As Gillion (new ethics) pointed out, every person has his right to life, especially he is not an aggressor. This point is also been pointed by (Rebecca and john,Blackwell p204), “embryos has a right to life” .The fetus is innocent and

Our society is filled with numerous ethical dilemmas. We are consistently bombarded with ethical issues daily. At times, these ethical dilemmas are virtually impossible to unravel. I believe the topic of abortion is one of the most difficult and controversial issues in today’s society. It is also the one people are most passionate about as it continues to be scrutinized by two groups, holding fast to different perspectives; Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice.