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Ethicality Of Abortion Essay

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Abortion is a controversial issue in the United States. It seems impossible to have any accord or compromise on this topic because the views of different people are so widely divergent. These views are based on whether people decide that priority should be given to treating women as rational beings and allowing them the autonomy to get an abortion or to enabling the development of a possibly viable fetus. The personhood of the fetus is an important determinant of the ethicality of abortion. Some people regard the fetus as being a person, and because of this, they say that abortion is comparable to murder. Others view the fetus as being an extension of the female body, and because of this, they say that it has no rights, and that women should have the autonomy to get rid of this unwanted extension. Typically, people who support the allowance of abortion choose to because they believe that autonomy should be held in the highest regard. They believe that it is unfair to force women to give birth when they do not want to. Most of these people do not view a fetus as being a person, and so they do not give the safety of a fetus as much weight as they give the autonomy of a woman. They believe that the rights of a rational human woman is much more important. …show more content…

They believe that because those who are against abortion are imposing their beliefs about what is right on pregnant women. An argument used against those who are pro-life is that the paternalism that they exemplify unfairly restricts the rights of women. People who are pro-life say that this paternalism is warranted. To them, fetuses are people and because of this, they have rights. However, because they do not speak, they cannot defend themselves, so those who are Pro-life believe that they have a duty to protect these vulnerable

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