Ethical Issue Of Elective Abortion Essay

What subject has been more controversial for the last several decades than abortion? Since the decriminalization of abortion in 19731, thousands have been performed every year in the United States. Whether you are a pro-life or right-to-life supporter, or a pro-choice advocate, there are compelling arguments. Both sides use proven statistics, as well as emotional appeal to establish their points. Pro-choice groups speak to the rights of a woman to choose what she wants to do with her body as a matter of freedom. Aside from personal choice, they believe that there are certain circumstances where abortion may be required due to medical reasons. Pro-life proponents

The issue of abortion has always been a controversial one for citizens of the United States. Abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy after the embryo has been planted in the uterus (Abortion). An individual’s stance on this controversial issue categorizes them into one of two very different groups. An individual who feels that a woman should not have an abortion- due to moral or religious views- is said to be “pro-life”. Coincidently, those who feel that a woman should have the right to choose abortion are said to be “pro-choice”. “Pro-life” supporters point to the practice of abortion as an immoral one. Supporters state abortion is immoral because it takes away the rights of the unborn fetus, since activists consider human

Pro-abortion activists and stakeholder groups, such as Children by Choice, argue that Queensland’s current abortion laws are impractical and ambiguous. This view is supported by the fact that there has never been a conviction for an illegal abortion performed by doctors in Queensland, despite the fact that abortion is only legal in the instance where the pregnancy is likely to affect the health of the mother. Abortion law in Queensland is defined in the Criminal Code Act in s 224 and 225, but has been interpreted through and adapted by common law over the years. The current abortion law should be reformed by creating a specific statute law, as exists in Western Australia, so as to remove the ambiguity that currently exists. The main reason for this is that no solid conviction has ever been made in the instances of

Abortion is when a pregnancy is ended by emptying the contents of the womb. An abortion is usually the result of an unwanted pregnancy and is performed in a hospital or an Abortion clinic.

Abortions were widely used in the early eighteen hundreds and kept secret due public scrutineer. Not only were they considered against the law in some places but were risky due to high risk of infection from unsterile equipment used to perform the actions.” Without today’s current technology, maternal and infant mortality rates during childbirth were extraordinarily high. “(National abortion Federation, 2016) as time contained states changed and modified their laws to accommodate political agendas, these opposed to legal abortion had begun to fight absent any stated funded abortion clines. Then there was Roe v. Wade this was the first major Supreme Court battle based on abortion laws and ethics. Roe v. Wade decision of the courts said that they “considered the constitutionality of a Texas statute made it a crime to obtain an abortion except when it was necessary to save the life of the mother”. (Harris, 2014) There was another Supreme Court case that changed the views of the courts based on how they judge the frame work of decision on the trimester model. The ethics involved in this are not just solely left to the mother of the potential life but in the network of people

Women may have an abortion for a variety of reasons, but in general they choose abortion because a pregnancy at that time is in some way wrong for them. “Abortion is the removal of a fetus from the uterus before it is mature enough to live on its own” (Kuechler 1996). When this happens spontaneously we call it a miscarriage. Induced abortion is brought about deliberately by a medical procedure that ends pregnancy. Legal abortion, carried out by trained medical practitioners, is one of the most common and safest surgical procedures. “About 1.5 million American women choose to have induced abortions each year. Less than 1% of all abortion patients experience a major complication associated with the procedure” (Kuechler 1996).

In the 19th century, after tremendous progress in surgical processes, abortions were then conducted by surgeons on a wide scale, while medical abortions are used concurrently. However, as abortion technology prospers, legal restrictions came with it. In 1803, a English statute abolished the previously-legal first trimester abortions. The act “condemned the willful, malicious, and unlawful use of any medical substance when used with the intent to induce abortion” (Stern, 1968). In 1821, Connecticut enabled the first statute in the United States regulating abortions. Within 10 years, states like Illinois, Ohio, New York, Alabama, and others enabled abortion restriction statutes, and by 1968, 50 of the 51 jurisdictions in the United States have prohibited abortion except in the case women’s life is endangered (Ibid., at 3). In 1965, Britain, however, legalized abortion for “medical conditions of the mother, for socio-economic reasons, for eugenic considerations, and for pregnancies which resulted from rape or incestuous intercourse”, which is still law today (Ibid, at 4). In Canada, abortion has been legalized since 1969 through Bill C-150 if “a committee of three physicians determined that the pregnancy was a threat to the woman's life or health” (Norman, 2012). In 1988, Canadian Supreme Court struck down bill C-150’s provision requiring committee approval to receive an abortion in its decision R v Morgentaler, legalizing abortion across Canada for any reasons (Ibid.).

Ever since the case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion has been one of the most contentious issues in our society. In some cases people think abortion is murder, in others, it’s reasonable for some cases. Then there are people who use it just to take advantage of it. The legal stance of abortion is a hot topic in today’s society.

In 2005 it was estimated that 83,210 abortions were performed in Australia , although Australia does not have a national data collection on the outcomes of pregnancy, the number of abortions occurring is estimated by the use of a combination of private insurance claims and Medicare statistics. It is also estimated that around one third of Australian women will experience an abortion at some point in their life.4 As stated before, there are two types of abortion available for women in Australia; medical and surgical. The continued process towards ensuring the widespread availability to medical abortion has been slow, whereas access to surgical abortion has been around considerably longer.

The argument of abortion has been raging since the Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, in 1973. This court case has divided the country into two factions: pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-life advocates argue that abortions are murder and extreme levels of child abuse. While pro-choice advocates believe abortions are a justifiable means to end pregnancies. The pro-choice argument is that the fetus is not yet a human being and its rights should not override that of the mother’s.

Of all the legal, ethical, and moral issues we Americans continuously fight for or against, abortion may very well be the issue that Americans are most passionate about. The abortion issue is in the forefront of political races. Most recently the “no taxpayer funding for abortion act”, has abortion advocates reeling. Even though abortion has been legal in every state in the United States since the monumental Supreme Court decision, “Roe v Wade”, on January 22, 1973; there are fewer physicians willing to perform abortions today than in 2008. (Kraft) At the heart of the ethical dilemma for many in the medical profession is the viability of the fetus. And just to make this whole dilemma more confusing, according to the United States

In our society, there are many ethical dilemmas that we are faced with that are virtually impossible to solve. One of the most difficult and controversial issues that we are faced with is abortion. There are many strong arguments both for and against the right to have an abortion which are so complicated that it becomes impossible to resolve. The complexity of this issue lies in the different aspects of the argument. The essence of a person, rights, and who is entitled to these rights, are a few of the many aspects which are very difficult to define. There are also issues of what circumstances would justify abortion. Because the issue of abortion is virtually impossible to solve, all one can hope

According to the Australian Government, abortion is “the termination (end) of a pregnancy” (Australian Government, 2015). In Australia, each state and territory have differing laws regarding abortion. In Queensland, under sections 224, 225 and 226 of legislation, abortion is illegal under the criminal code, however, it may be regarded as lawful if performed to prevent serious danger to the woman’s physical or mental health (does not include economic or social pressure) (CCAI, 2015). 65% of Australians are strongly opposed to abortion (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013) on the basis that it is murder. However, there is much divergence of opinion surrounding the issue. Reproductive Choice Australia supports women’s choice of abortion as a “right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right… to make decisions concerning reproduction” (RCA, 2015). This means that women should be and are able to make decisions surrounding their own body and needs. Additionally, they state that abortion is not murder as “"personhood" is an epiphenomenon of the human brain, it should be clear that if there is no fully functional brain, and then there is no personhood” (RCA, 2015), implying that abortion cannot be viewed as murder because the foetus has no functioning brain. Hence, abortion is a debated topic throughout Australia, however; there is much divergence of opinion surrounding the

The Ethics Of Abortion is a very controversial subject that has been continually argued over for the past few years and probably many more years to come. The main controversy is should abortion remain legalized? Before we get into the many sides of abortion we must first define abortion. Abortion is the destruction of the fetus or unborn child while the child is still in the mother’s womb. This can be done by almost anyone from the mother herself to back alley abortions and even to abortions by clinics set up especially for this purpose. There are two sides to this abortion topic, the PRO-LIFE, which is those who are against abortion altogether and the PRO- CHOICE or those who believe it is the woman’s right to

     Abortion is the surgical termination of a pregnancy. How odd that people are able to define something, that is such a controversial issue, so easily. There are hundreds, thousands, and even millions of things to say about abortion. When it comes to abortion, I find myself thinking like a symbolic interactionist. Abortion is a personal social issue and it needs to be seen on a micro level first. Although abortion can also be seen on a macro level, seeing abortion on a micro level lets people see the different symbols of abortion. No social condition creates the same symbol. If abortion is seen on a macro level, all the myths and stereotypes of abortion seem more realistic. For example, some of those myths