Abortion: Is it Possible to be both Pro-life and Pro-Choice? Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

The topic of abortion is heavily debated. One of the major controversies surrounding abortion is whether or not the embryo is a human life and able to receive the same rights as any other human. Is the embryo mentally developed enough to be considered as a human life? It is medically proven that after conception, the human brain takes many months to develop, so the “personhood” of a fetus cannot begin until about the seventh month.

A. It is important to recognise an individual as a person as it is their human right to be seen as such. If an individual is not seen as a person it devalues them and isolates them from everyday society making them feel “different”.

In John Locke’s argument for personal identity, he believes that we are not substances or mere souls. In his argument, Locke stresses to convey that there is a crucial difference between distinguishing a “man” and a “person” (Locke 221). According to Locke’s definition, a man is a living body which is homogenous to an animal’s body. Therefore, any living body of a particular shapes refers to a “man.” Locke emphasizes that a “person” is a sensible being that is aware of its own

human from usually two months after conception to birth. It defines an embryo as a human or

However, the question frequently comes about regarding at which point of fetal development can the fetus be given “personhood.” The standard pro-life argument asserts the claim that life is present from the point of conception; a fetus possess similar physical characteristics to that of an infant such as a genetic codes that are necessary and sufficient conditions for being human, making the claims of abortion morally akin to murder. Mary Anne Warren and Judith Jarvis Thomson provide a pro-abortion argument, asserting that abortions do not take

Much of the ethical debate stemming from this topic lies with the issue of personhood. Personhood is a concept that defines what is it is that makes a person a “person”. There is no established criteria for this concept and it can vary depending on one’s belief. Patil, Dode & Ahirrao (2014), argue that the concept of personhood is the bridge that connects the fetus with the right to life. If one considers the fetus a person then ethically abortion is wrong. If the fetus is not a person then abortion is ethically acceptable. The issue on personhood mirrors the subjectivity of abortion debate.

Abortion is a controversial topic that has led to many arguments. Many people believe that abortion is permissible and others believe that it is impermissible. The anti-abortionists argue that the fetus is a person so it is immoral to kill an innocent person. On the other hand, the pro-choicer argue that the fetus is not considered as a person. In the article, “Why Abortion is Immoral” Don Marquis argues why abortion is wrong.

The ethics of abortion have long been an issue in the world of both politics and philosophy. Abortion has surfaced many questions regarding the classification of a newly fertilized embryo and whether or not it should be considered a human being. John Noonan, in his paper, “How to Argue About Abortion,” claims that the fetus is in fact a person, from the point of conception to birth, with the right to life. Noonan argues that the main problem with recognizing fetuses as human beings is the inability of some to expand their general view of what it means to be a person (1.

According to Webster Dictionary, abortion is “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus”. There are two sides when it comes to abortion: pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life supporters are usually religious individuals, individuals who believe it is a kind of murder, and/or people who believe in the sanctity of life. Pro-choice supporters are normally individuals who believe a woman has the right to her own body, it is not a form of murder, and some individuals believe that there are limits. The main point of disagreement between both of these sides is whether an embryo/ fetus is a human so should it be legal or illegal and is it immoral?

The canonical school of thought that is employed as a counter to the psychological continuity account of personal identity is one called animalism. Animalists argue that we are animals. Philosopher John Locke described animalism such that “An animal is a living organized body; and consequently the same animal … is the same continued life communicated to different particles of matter, as they happened successively to be united to that organized living body … This also shows wherein the identity of the same man consists; viz. in nothing but a participation of the same continued life, by constantly fleeting particles of matter, in succession vitally united to the same organized body.” Consequently, animalism implies that psychological continuity does not accurately describe what we are. For example, if a human is forced into a permanent comatose state for whatever reason, that human will cease to experience characteristic psychological events, nonetheless, she will still exist as an individual, i.e., she will still have a functioning cardiovascular

Brown discusses the moral status of the human embryo and what point the embryo has rights. When the embryo is looked at as a biological individual, they are considered to have qualities that do not comply with human life. The embryo does not have the properties essential to becoming a human being. In this case, the embryo would fall under the Second Order Potential Personhood. When the embryo is looked at as not being a biological individual, the embryo is conducive to human life. The embryo has all of the qualities to become a human being. Brown makes two very good points when considering the moral status of the human embryo and placing them at certain levels of moral status. If the embryo falls below the level of being considered a person with self-awareness, it does not have moral protection. On the other hand, if the embryo falls within a higher threshold, it can be considered a human being with full moral status.

“Abortion is the spontaneous or artificially induced expulsion of an embryo or fetus” (Abortion, 2002). An artificially induced abortion is the type referred to in the legal context. Abortions happen in different situations. The question comes when is it the right or wrong choice. The root question becomes the moment a fetus becomes a person and entitled to rights. The fetus could be a person at conception, during the pregnancy, or at birth. The deciding moment differs from the Pro-life group and Pro-choice group. After critically analyzing four different arguments about the pros and cons of abortion, one will be able to understand the ethical, moral, and

When an embryo should be considered an actual human has a variety of answers, “some have sought to reject that the early human embryo is a human being, according to one view, the cells that comprise the early embryo are a bundle of homogeneous cells that exist in the same membrane but do not form a human organism because the cells do not function in a coordinated way to regulate and preserve a single life”.(Siegel)

Abortion is a legal medical method to stop the premature delivery that is adopted in most countries of the world. It was legalized many years ago but nowadays we live in the civilized society where the human life is the most precious treasure and the question about the appropriateness of abortions is of current importance. Nowadays there are two opposing camps who present their arguments. People who support abortion insist that prohibition of it will deprive people of their rights to have free choice. On the contrary, people who stand for banning abortion claim that abortion deprive a human being from the right to live. Every person must decide for himself what is more important: deprivation of choice or deprivation of life. Another point

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