Ethical Issues With 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 factors that are taken into consideration when determining if abortion is morally permissible, or wrong including; sentience of the fetus, the fetuses right to life, the difference between adult human beings and fetuses, the autonomy of the pregnant woman, and the legality of abortion. Don Marquis argues that abortion is always morally wrong, excluding cases in which the woman is threatened by pregnancy, or abortion after rape, because fetuses have a valuable future. Mary Anne Warren contends that late term abortions are morally permissible because birth is the most significant event for a fetus, and a woman’s autonomy should never be suspended.

The ethical dilemma is about abortion and Down syndrome. It is regarding a pregnant patient named Susan that has been trying for years and is finally pregnant with a baby that has Down syndrome. The doctor suggest aborting the fetus because it prevents the child living a life of suffering. Preventing this baby from living a life of suffering makes it difficult to make an ethical decision. It makes the scenario difficult because this child can be a blessing from God. This child may not necessarily have a life of suffering. It may just be the

Before the premises are argued for, the following assumptions must be made. I will follow the same assumptions that Judith Thompson made in her paper. These assumptions are that a fetus is considered a human and that this argument will exclude the extreme circumstances such as rape. Therefore, this paper will focus solely on consensual sex and the morals of abortion following such intercourse, even in the case of dangers to the mothers’ life.

In 1973, the case of Roe v. Wade took place. Abortion issues were discussed during this time and it was determined by the Supreme Court that the idea of conscience clause be initiated (Berlinger, 2008). Conscience clause legislation provides legal protection for health care workers that choose not to participate in treatment of care, if it violates their moral or religious belief (Berlinger, 2008). Beliefs on abortions, is an example of how the conscience clause legislation may cause a dilemma. The physician does not believe in abortions and during a routine visit the doctor discovered that the patient is experiencing an ectopic pregnancy. Although the patient is currently asymptomatic, the physician understands that this puts the patient’s health at risk. What would the physician do to handle the situation? Under the conscience clause law, this physician would be protected, as performing an abortion goes against their religious or ethical beliefs. The physician would have to consider that although this goes against their beliefs, the patient’s health is at risk and subsequently cause an ethical dilemma. From the patient’s view, this law may be intrusive and violate their constitutional right of choice (Berlinger, 2008).

Abortion is a very controversial topic, but today, many statistics show that the Pro-Choice movement is gaining more and more popularity. However, Catholics can have faith that the Catholic Church’s Pro-Life stance shows God’s mercy. It proves how God is merciful to unborn humans, mothers considering abortion, and to all the people of the world. We can have more confidence in our choice for Pro-Life knowing that we are righteous because God believes in life for everyone.

Even though many people practice pro-life because of their religion, it may be surprising to learn that catholic women are 29% more likely to get an abortion than Protestant women, though they are as likely as all women to do so2. In Christianity abortion has been considered homicide since Pope Sixtus V declared it so, but the debate didn’t become heated until the 19th century1. So even these pro-life supporters sometimes find the circumstances where abortion is necessary. An example of a situation where you may see this is in a given situation where bearing a child and giving birth would kill the mother because of health issues or womb complications the fetus would have. It’s said that the risks of death associated with childbirth is 10 times higher than

“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

As the Abbott Hospital was previously nonsectarian it may prove to be difficult to retain the support of the medical community, the public, and Abbott’s management in light of Mt. Mercy’s acquisition. Post the acquisition, the Catholic Code of Ethics would go into effect which prohibits abortions or sterilizations in hospitals that are owned and operated under Catholic ownership. As the code would be operational at Abbott Hospital they may face opposition from the medical community at large, the public, and the management of Abbott. The public may refrain from utilizing Abbott upon the acquisition as they would now be abiding by the code which may deter patients, particularly those who do not agree with their viewpoint on legalized abortions

religious authority figures, such as that of Pope John Paul II in the article, who states,

This author has chosen to discuss the ethical issues of abortion. This is a highly debated topic that will exist amongst women. It is happening at high rates. “In 2013, 664,435 legal induced abortions

When faced with the choice of life or death, most people would choose to live. In fact, most would not want someone else making that decision for them. They would claim that as a living and independent entity it is solely their choice as to whether they continue to live or not. While this concept may seem fairly straightforward, there seems to be some great debate when it is applied to abortion. For many, they will maintain that the fetus has the right to life no matter the situation. There are some who will argue that abortion is morally permissible in specific circumstances and there are even those that will claim that abortion is always permissible. Why is there such a great divide? A major factor that plays a part in this is whether abortion involves more than one life. Because determining the beginning point of life is such a complex and emotional debate, there will be the same allowance in this paper as there was in Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion”. As she eloquently put it “I propose then, that we grant that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception” (p. 721). This will allow for a look into the moral debate of abortion from a more grounded stage. As discussed early in Thomson’s paper, most of the debate on abortion rests on whether the fetus is alive or not. Whereas the focus should be on the many other aspects of pregnancies that may lead to a mother wanting an abortion.

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

A long on-going subject that has been greatly debated in our society is abortion. Many people argue that because the baby in the mother’s womb is not alive, aborting him or her is not considered a murder. However, others say that as the baby’s heart and brain are the first things to develop, the baby is technically alive and killing it would be a murder. As soon as the baby has a heartbeat, it has life. Abortion has many characteristics of a murder, including the killing of one human being by another, it’s unethical, and it is done without the consent of the person.

Abortion is a highly-debated topic of whether it is ethical for a woman to decide to have one. Abortion is any of various surgical methods for deliberately terminating a pregnancy. When we speak of abortion today, we mean induced abortion performed by trained doctors, not including miscarriage (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). Some current methods of abortion are morning-after pill, mifepristone, uterine or vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage, saline solution, prostaglandin drugs, hysterotomy, and partial birth abortion. Abortion involves questions about rights, happiness, and well-being, as well as the status and value of human life. The people who think it is ethical to have an abortion stand on the Pro-choice side and the people who think it is unethical stand on the Pro-life side. The liberal view of abortion supports abortions and the conservative view opposes abortion. There are many legal, religious, and medical conflicts that are included in the debate over abortion. The arguments made from both sides help us better understand whether a woman should have an abortion.