Morality of Abortion Counter-Argument
Kyle Pedigo
PHI 103: Informal Logic
Micheal Pelt
August 29, 2015 Morality of Abortion This paper is written to present a counter argument. This is a counter argument to a debate that has been around for a very long time and likely will not go away any time soon. The topic I will be covering is: Does the stage of pregnancy affect the morality of abortion? In my opinion I have to say no. But, my opinion is not the subject of this paper. My original argument is based on this: The thought of killing an embryo or fetus in my opinion is no different than killing a newborn child as soon as they enter this world. This argument is presented in standard form below:
1. All human embryos/fetuses are living creatures at conception.
2. The difference of adults and babies in the womb are a difference of age, not a difference of species. Our laws do not justify murder of adults by its citizens for any reason other than justified self defense.
3. Abortion is by definition murder.
Conclusion: A pregnant woman carries a living human in her womb regardless of the stage of pregnancy; therefore an abortion would be murder.
My counter argument, as presented in standard form, follows below:
1. 88% of abortions are obtained prior to the 13th week of gestation and the National Abortion Federation reports that 97% of these cases report no complications.
2. A pregnancy and the outcome of such should be left up to the woman whose body is involved.
1.Abortion does not only kill the baby but may as kill the mother as well or threat the mother’s health.
The fetus has a valuable future, just as we consider children, the retarded or mentally ill to have valuable futures, thus killing a fetus is not morally permissible. Another pro-choice argument is that the fetus has no desire to live and consequently there is no wrongness in killing. Marquis criticizes this viewpoint, as society believes it is morally wrong to kill those who have no desire to live, and those who are unconscious or suicidal (Gedge & Waluchow, 2012, p220).
There are many common pregnancy alternatives, but most often the resulting decision is abortion because it is effortless. Abortion is endings a women’s pregnancy by removing or forcing a fetus or embryo from the mother’s womb before it is able to survive on its own. Not all abortions are purposely done some are spontaneous like when a women that has a miscarriage. Rather abortion is done purposely or naturally it is a worldwide complication as to it being wrong or right. Abortion is an ethical issue that will be analyzed according to a personal worldview and Christian worldview. Ethical thinking will be examined by value-based decisions that address abortion from the perspective of a Christian worldview and comparing it to a personal assumption by addressing ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison.
My second argument against abortion is due to the physical health issues having an abortion can cause for women. There are minor complications such as: minor infections, bleeding, fevers, abdominal pain, gastro disturbances, and vomiting that can occur as a result of having an abortion. Approximately 10% of women undergoing induced abortion suffer from immediate complications, of which one-fifth (2%) were considered major. Major complications that occur include: major infections, excessive bleeding, embolism, perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury and endotoxic shock. Aside from the potential dangers of the abortion methods in general, abortion increases a woman’s chances of having miscarriages in later pregnancies; this is especially true for younger girls who have had an abortion. Also, repeated abortions increase the level of danger (Thiroux and Krasemann). I personally know several women who have had an abortion at some point. I conducted a very short interview with three individuals asking them the following questions:
The purpose of this essay is to set out an argument that abortion is wrong. Some claim that only in “rare” instances, such as rape or within a few days of contraception, abortion is acceptable. I will agree that there are certain circumstances that abortion is more “acceptable” than other times, albeit however few and far between these instances arise. Instances that make abortion more “okay” are rape, and once it is discovered that the mother's life is in danger if she were to carry the baby the full term of the pregnancy. The basis for my argument comes from reading two opposing essays on abortion , in regards to whether it is “right” or wrong, “A defense of Abortion” by Judith
There is a concern among many, that it is not the woman’s decision to terminate the life of their unborn child. Fetuses are advocated for because decision making is out of their control. One of the main arguments is that the unborn child will not have the opportunity to live the life it deserves and because of that, women that go through the process of abortion will regret their decision. This is understandable, because it is a difficult option to pursue, not health-wise, but emotionally a devastation for some. Along
Thou shalt not kill; one-tenth of what may arguably be the most famous guidelines of morality in the western culture, and also the main driving force for pro-life advocates. The argument supporting their beliefs typically starts with the premises that a fetus is a person, and to destroy or to kill a person is unethical. Therefore abortion, the premeditated destruction of a human being, is murder, and consequently unethical. I deny the fact that the fetus, what I will refer to as an embryo up to 22 weeks old, has the right to live. The opposing argument is invalid because a fetus, although perhaps a part of human species, is not formally a person. This leaves it simply to be a part of the woman?s body, whose fate lies solely in the
Many people bring up science about the babies being a fetus, not an actual person. But eventually, the babies are no longer a fetus, they are an actual human being. According to Daniel Mills, a PhD student at the University of Southern Denmark, you have to have oxygen to survive. A baby can only breathe to absorb the oxygen. So this means that the baby has to be living if it is inside the mother’s womb. If it is living, and we abort it, we have killed it. This shows that abortion is murder, and we aren’t doing about
This hypothetical situation could be a vision of tomorrow. For decades, the controversial topic of abortion has been the center of countless heated debates. Abortion, or the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, commonly sparks disputes over its morality. Those who are pro-life believe that terminating a pregnancy is essentially killing an unborn child, and unethical act that must be banned. However, some do not realize that under certain circumstances, carrying a child to term is just not an option.
An 18 year old girl gets pregnant and can’t decide whether to keep the baby or have an abortion. Her parents are very religious and do not believe in sex before marriage therefore would not take to kindly to their daughter being pregnant.
24 percent of women having abortions are unmarried teenagers. Pregnancy can be a scary and extremely stressful time in a women?s life. To force a woman who is not ready for a child to go through with the birth is not the answer. Stress is not good for the fetus at all, and could lead to complications in the pregnancy, or even a miscarriage. People also seem to forget about a women?s mental health in these situations. A woman could be haunted for her lifetime of giving birth to an unborn child.
The right to life is the most basic and important right that we have. In the past two hundred years, over one million Americans have died for their country. Monuments have been built and speeches have been delivered, honoring these American heroes. America is now engaged in a war where there are no heroes, no monuments or tributes - only victims. Our society has declared war on its most helpless members - our unborn children. Since that war was declared on January 22, 1973, there have been over 35 million deaths.
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.
Does a women’s right to choose to have an abortion outweigh a baby’s right to be born? The controversy at hand is whether the rights of a women outweigh the rights of a baby, and whether a mother should be given the rights to pursue a procedure like an abortion. To clarify an abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy in which a doctor uses a vacuum and suction to suck out a fetus from the uterus. The issue is whether the fetus who has the potential to be a rational, productive human being has the unequivocal rights of any other human being and whether he or she should be protected from, in every sense of the word, murder. The argument made by abortionfacts.com a nonprofit Christian pro-life education organization, is that
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