Introduction State your Ethical Position on the issue upfront, with its ethical motivation. The argument surrounding abortion is a very topical issue in our society and dates way back to ancient days. The issue of legalizing abortion is a growing social concern as all life is sacred and valued. However, in recent years there have been two ethical arguments by the Supreme Court in legalizing abortion that of pro-life and pro-choice. Despite the legal acceptance of abortion in some countries, the matter remains an ethical concern (Jones & Chaloner, 2007). With this is mind, the writer’s position is pro-life from a deontological perspective. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2015), deontological emphasizes the relationship between “duty’ and morality of human actions. The term deontology derives from the Greek deon, “duty,” and logos, “science.” Thus, pro-life seek to advocate for the defenseless human being whose life is being unjustly taken away (Alcorn, 1994). Since all human life begins at conception the act of abortion can then be seen as murder because it is the act of taking someone’s life. Abortion is an infringement on human life. In retrospect no civil society would allow for someone to take the life of another; for that reason, abortion must be viewed as morally wrong. Subsequently, the bible recognizes no crucial difference between the being in the womb and the being after birth. Hence, from conception and onwards, the individual is a person. Genesis
Abortion was declared a fundamental right in 1973, which divided American society into two groups (in simplest form), pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life groups, pertaining of mostly religious persons, believe that life is precious, beginning at the time of conception. Pro-life groups declared that abortion is to be considered murder and is unethical. However, those who oppose that belief, pro-choice, say that it is a decision for the woman to take. After various cases and argumentation, the Supreme Court declared that it is more beneficial for abortion to become a legal act, rather than having women unsafely abort their fetus, causing great health risks. The goal of this paper is to discuss, with all rationality and reason, the logistics of
The controversy surrounding the ethicality of abortions has been a hotly debated topic during the past several decades. In the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, the Court ruled that women had the constitutional right to seek abortions; however, in 1989, the Court later decided that each state had the right to set its own abortion policy. Heated disagreements and different perspectives have led to the creation of two different movements: the prochoice movement and the prolife movement. The former supports abortion, the intentional ending of a pregnancy, while the latter claims that abortion is immoral. The issue has been escalated from a matter of choice to the questioning of morality – Is having an abortion the killing of a human?
In the 40 years since passing of the legislation by Roe v. Wade that gave women a choice to have abortion, a lot has changed. There has been a great deliberation on the topic of abortion. This includes issues surrounding problems of having abortions to the likely advantages of abortion. Legally induced abortion is defined as an operation or procedure which is performed by a licensed professional or physician with an intention of terminating a known or suspected intrauterine pregnancy in order to produce a non-viable fetus. This can be done at any time of the gestational age. Over the past few years, there have been significant changes and alterations in the demographic composition of both young and elderly women who procure abortions.
Every day in this world, physicians suction thousands of babies from their mothers’ wombs through a procedure called abortion. Abortion is one of the most controversial issues debated in medical ethics. In the 19th century United States made abortion illegal. However, in 1973, abortion was legalized within the United States of America, which resulted in the termination of over 57 million pregnancies. This equals to 1 pregnancy every 24 seconds. Which means in an hour there are 155 abortions. The moral debate regarding abortion focuses on two specific issues: (1) whether a human fetus has a right to life, and, if so, (2) whether the rights of the mother ever override the fetus's right. The law protects and provides consent to both the mother
was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there – you saw me
The name abortion sets an eerie feeling in the pit of one’s stomach. The thought of killing an innocent being should be considered illegal. No one should be given the right to kill an innocent child for their own selfish desires. Whether the child is a mistake, made from an inconvenience, or not having the financial capacity of raising another is no reason to abort. Abortion should be illegal because taking an innocent life is considered murder; it is not about choice, but the value of life itself and it goes against a person’s human rights.
When it comes to the debate on abortion, many people look at the different morally relevant issues at hand. Some philosophers can argue about the personhood of a fetus and whether or not the fetus is granted the right to life. Others may agree that a fetus is a person, but disagree on how moral an abortion is. In this paper, I will argue that the fetus is a person, but not all abortions are unjust killings; in my view, it is morally permissible to terminate a fetus if the woman has taken the proper precautions against pregnancy, if the woman became pregnant as a result of non-consensual sex/rape, or if the woman’s life is at risk. I will present the reasons for my view, support my view with the normative ethical theories learned in this
Abortion is one of the contentious issues and mostly discussed problems of human life. According to the statistics provided by the World Health Organization there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions in the world each year, that is approximately 125,000 abortions per day. Some countries banned the procedure of abortion, while others have put no restriction on the provisions relating abortion (Makenzius, 2012, p. 11). Therefore, nowadays there are different debates around this concept that divide into two ethical positions: pro-choice and pro-life. The basic question in this debate sounds like “Are you for or against abortion?”, or with another words "Are you pro-choice or pro-life?" Consequently, there are people who advocate a right to
The topic of abortion is one of the most debated and argued topics in moral and ethical cases. Often the
Abortion is terminating a pregnancy before the fetus has been born. Abortion has been and still is very controversial and has had an increasing amount of cases all over the world. In 2000 there were over one million abortions in the United States (Harper, et al., 501). Abortion is one of the most common procedures women undergo. According to the current abortion rates about thirty percent of women will have an abortion by the age of forty-five (Jones and Kavanaugh, 2011). Most abortions are attributed to unplanned pregnancies. In 2001 half of the 6.4 million pregnancies were not planned and half of this number resulted in having an abortion (Jones and Kavanaugh, 2011). Abortion is one of the biggest aspects that healthcare faces. Although the view of abortion is very controversial, there are still many issues that people do not know about the problem.
Abortion is a very controversial topic. This paper will discuss the opposing sides of the issue as well as my own personal opinion. The basic question is when a developing person actually becomes a person or alive. The following articles: A Defense of Abortion, by Judith Jarvis Thomson and Opposition to Abortion: A Human Rights Approach, by Baruch Brody discuss the opposing sides of the abortion issue. I will be using and summarizing those articles in my evaluation of the topic abortion.
In the contemporary times, the debate over the legalization of abortion has been a hot concern in the American society. Even though the United States Supreme Court declared abortion as a fundamental right in 1973 on Roe v. Wade 7-2 decision (Rose 91), this procedure is still gravely disapproved by many. According to the advocates of abortion, abortion is an exclusive human right that must not be restricted by ant religious authority or governmental body. Their argument is based on the assumption that illegalization of abortion would ultimately make pregnant women choose insecure illegal abortions as an alternative. In fact, such pro-choice groups encourage abortion by stressing that a fetus or embryo has no basic right to choose. On the other hand, opponents of abortion, also called pro-life, believe that it is from the conception stage that personhood begins. According to their perspective, abortion is not a fundamental right but a ‘morally wrong’ murder of a naive human being. Pro-life contend that abortion is a direct means to cause suffering to an unborn human being. As far as my opinion is concerned, I am strongly against the use of abortive methods as it is extremely unfair to permit abortion when there are thousands and thousands of couples who are unable to conceive through biological means and seek adoption.
be legal up to the age of 24 weeks from gestation. The reality is that
conscience is seen as a guide from God as to what action to take. The
For more than forty years, there is still much debate over whether or not abortion should be a legal option and it remains to split Americans. The US Supreme Courts choice on Roe v. Wade acknowledged the procedure for abortion as a “fundamental right” in January 22, 1973. The ethical issues are between pro-life and pro-choice, the debate if it should be legal or not.