Week 3 Assignment Abortion

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University of North Alabama *

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415

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Philosophy

Date

Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by GeneralBaboonMaster878

The moral controversy that will be discussed in this paper is abortion. We will be using the principles of ethical egoism and social contract ethics to discuss the morality of abortion. What is moral can often be subjective, but this paper aims to be as objective and non-biased as possible. Before arguing about the different positions on abortion and explaining the two moral theories (ethical egoism and social contract ethics), we will define the terms “abortion” and “morality”. Nita & Goga (2020) state that “Abortion means a pregnancy interruption “before the fetus is viable” or “before the fetus is able to live independently in the extrauterine environment, usually before the 20th week of pregnancy”. The circulatory system of the fetus and its heartbeat start working and can be heard at 18 days of pregnancy (Nita & Goga, 2020). Some people say that abortion is unethical once a baby’s heart starts to beat and honestly, I am not sure how strong of an argument that is. Abortion is a tricky issue to discuss because most people’s perspective of it is shaped by how they grew up, where they grew up, what they experienced growing up, their religion, their culture, their race, their gender, their nationality, their level of education, finances, and their socioeconomic status. Religious people are usually not in support of abortion because they see it as killing a life God created. Poorer people tend to accept abortion because they know that they do not have the resources and support to take care of a child compared to richer folks. We should also consider the people who might be emotivists: people who say abortion is unethical just because they do not like it, or it makes them feel uncomfortable. To know right from wrong defines moral understanding (Sliwa, 2017). The concept of morality cannot stand strong in abortion because there is no fine line between the right and wrong sides. We will now define the moral theories and state what side of the argument they support based on their definition. In our text, Rachels states that an ethical egoist sees that there is only one fundamental principle, which is self-interest (Rachels, 2018). Ethical egoism supports whatever the individual wants and gives them the choice to do what they want. Based on this definition, ethical egoists are pro-choice and support the morally right side of abortion. To justify their moral position, ethical egoists would provide three arguments which are: altruism is self-defeating; Ayn Rand’s argument, and commonsense morality. In the first argument, altruism is self-defeating, Rachels (2018) states that “if we try to be “our brother’s keeper,” we will often bungle the job and do more harm than good.” An example of this case would be if a woman goes against her own personal wishes of having an abortion andgives birth to the child, if she does not have adequate finances and support to take care of the child, she puts herself and the child in a vulnerable position. The second argument which is the Ayn Rand’s argument is completely against altruism. It states that it does not value the life of the individual and sees it as something to be sacrificed (Rachels, 2018). The mother of a child can tell if bringing a child into the world will make her life better or worse. If she is sure it will makeit worse then she has the right to consider an abortion because if she is not allowed to, we can say her life is not being valued. The third argument which is the commonsense morality

proposesthe fact that us obeying rules and regulations is for our own personal interest/gain (Rachels, 2018). If a woman knows she cannot take care of a child, it is better for her to have an abortion instead of getting in trouble with the authorities for possible child neglect. If a woman knows the consequences and laws for child neglect then it is in her best interest to avoid the situation and that might mean getting an abortion. Yes, there might be a conflict between loyalty to self and the community if a woman decides to have an abortion, but her culture/community does not accept it. She must pick between fulfilling her own wishes or the wishes of her community. I feel the best course of action is for her to fulfill her own wishes. Social contract ethics relies on the fact that rational people will accept rules and regulations if this is accepted by others (Rachels, 2018). This means that if society sees it fit, people will follow suit and do what is needed to maintain order within this social contract. Basedon this definition, a social construct ethicist’s perception of abortion is dependent on if others accept it; a social construct ethicist can either be for or against abortion. If a social construct ethicist comes across a woman trying to get an abortion he or she would say the woman should check in with the rules and regulations of the society she lives in. If the rules permit abortion then it is right, but if the rules do not permit abortion then it is wrong. To justify their moral position of obeying the rules of the society people live in, a social construct ethicist would say that we all benefit from living in a society where rules are obeyed and enforced (Rachels, 2018). Since one of the main features of social construct ethics is obeying the rules and regulations, if someone does not follow those rules then they can be punished for being disobedient. I wonder how moral it would be to punish a woman who went ahead and had an abortion even if the rules of her society were against it. Yes, there is a collision between personal obligations and national ones in this case because, unlike ethical egoism, social construct ethics places national obligations above personal obligations and this is hard because one would have to deny their own desires to fulfill the national obligations. The best course of action would be to fulfill one’s individual desires, but not at the expense of severe national punishment which is a hard thing to do. Abortion might be an ethical and medical issue, but it is also a political issue because it ties into women’s rights. Nurses should always support the decisions of their patients regardless of what the community, country or organization says is right or wrong. Following the third provision of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics would help. “It states that the nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient (ANA, n.d.).” There are no conflicts between professional and familial duties. Abortion is a controversial topic and everyone’s opinion of it is very subjective. The patient should always come first regardless of whether it is perceived as right or wrong.

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