Persuasive Essay On Abortion

Many individuals fail to understand the sheer magnitude of bloodshed, tribulation, and despair legalized abortion has initiated into the human experience – both in the United States and worldwide. Far more human lives have been violently ended by this immoral decision than any other war or genocide in history. It is one of the most controversial issues in today’s society. Abortion is the intentional decision to murder a human fetus by chemical, medical or surgical procedures. Those who support the rights of abortion argue that women should be able to decide what can be done to their bodies, yet the unborn baby inside a woman is a living being, and terminating that pregnancy is the equivalent of murder. These innocent children should not be held responsible for your mistakes. Don’t terminate pregnancy now, because you may not have children in the future at all.

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.

defends that abortion is a morally sound action. Don Marquis, in his essay An Argument that Abortion is Wrong, takes the opposite stance. He claims “that abortion, except perhaps in rare instances, is seriously wrong”.

Abortion has been one of the biggest controversies of all time. Many people believe it is 100% wrong and even consider it to be murder. The definition of abortion is; “The termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth.” These pro-life believers do not support the idea of abortion and believe it should be illegal. Many of these supporters do not know that if abortion were illegal they would still be performed, unfortunately by an uneducated staff. Over 70 thousand maternal deaths occur every year because of unsafe abortions. These women die, so the idea of supporting pro-life is contradictory, this is why the nation should be pro-choice.

Therefore , when I die I, am deprived of all of the value of my future . Inflicting this loss on me is ultimately what makes killing me wrong. This being the case, it would seem tat what makes killing any adult human being prima facie seriously wrong is the loss of his or her future.”(Don Marquis p127) Don Marquis compares Abortion to Wanton infliction of pain on animals. Marquis came to the conclusion that infliction of pain cause suffering, and since causing suffering is what makes the wanton infliction of pain wrong and since the wanton infliction of pain on animals cause suffering, it follows that the wanton infliction of pain on animals is wrong. (Don Marquis p.127) Terminating of a life causes suffering so Abortions are under the same principal which makes abortions wrong also.

Don Marquis starts off his essay stating that most anti-abortion arguments are often thought of as of “irrational religious dogma or a conclusion generated by seriously confused philosophical argument.” (Marquis, p 183). He goes on to say that his essay will show abortion is seriously immoral and in the same moral category as killing an innocent adult human. Marquis then deconstructs typical arguments made both for and against abortion. He disagrees with the common arguments made by the anti-abortionist because the moral principles they use are often too broad in scope. Marquis draws parallels between the typical anti-abortionist arguments and the standard pro-choice arguments. For example, he notes the anti-abortionist will often make the claim that life is present at conception or the fetus looks like a baby and therefore it is a human being with a right to life. Regarding the pro-choice arguments Marquis notices similar arguments in the other direction. For example, the pro-choicer will claim the fetuses are not persons. Marquis notices there is too much ambiguity in the arguments of both sides. Marquis says that the moral claims made by each party do not do a good job touching the essence of the matter. Marquis then goes on to state that in order to understand why abortion is wrong we must first find out why it is wrong to kill us. He arrives at the conclusion that it is wrong to kill us because it deprives us our future. Marquis argues that since a standard fetus has a future just like a child or an adult

According to Don Marquis in his essay, “Why Abortion is Immoral,” killing is wrong because it is morally impermissible to cause the victim to be “deprived of all of the value of [his] future” (Marquis, 55). Marquis states that “abortion is prima facie wrong” (Marquis, 57) because killing a fetus deprives it of a valuable future like ours. Marquis’ assessment of killing and his claim that abortion is morally impermissible are not plausible under his argument.

The ruling for the famous Roe v. Wade stated that laws outlawing abortion violated a woman’s right to privacy in 1973 (Marquis 89). In response to the Roe v. Wade case decision, the anti-abortion and pro-choice views with regards to abortion arouse. In Why Abortion is Immoral Don Marquis argues that while the typical anti-abortion argument is too broad, the pro-choice argument is too narrow which leads to a standoff (Marquis 90-92). “…All this suggests that a necessary condition of resolving the abortion controversy is a more theoretical account of the wrongness of killing” (Marquis 92). Due to this Marquis comes to a theory which states, “(A)bortion is, except possibly in rare cases, seriously immoral, that it is in the same moral category

The author argues that abortion can be done to save a mother’s life. For example, if a mother has a health problem that will not allow her to carry the pregnancy then abortion should be done in order to save her life (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 28, 29). Furthermore, she argues that even though abortion is presumed as killing a child, the refusal to perform an abortion to an ill mother similarly results in the death of the mother. So it is unfair to the mother as both of them have equal rights to life and no one is inferior to the other (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 642). In addition, the author states that the extreme view that abortion is killing/murdering an unborn child is false (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 30). In a like manner, if a pregnancy poses a death risk to a mother, she has the right to defend herself even if in doing so involves killing the unborn child.

In the article “Why Abortion is Immoral,” Don Marquis starts by appealing to the general principle about the wrongness of killing; thus, assuming that the killing of any being is morally unethical in any situation. He then proposes that the killing of a fetus is depriving a being of their future and explains why abortion is morally wrong. His main argument in the article is that it is not morally acceptable to kill the average human being unless given severe conditions due to the fact that it is unethical to impede on the value of the unborn fetus. Marquis shows the most knowledgeable and itemized line of reasoning against abortion. As a result of Marquis’ beliefs, I will argue that his contention comes up short in light because the choice to have an abortion is an individual decision of the woman and it does not cause the loss of a valuable future.

Abortion is one of the most controversial topics of all times. The definition most people associate with abortion is the termination of unwanted pregnancy. In their essay, “The Wrong of Abortion”, Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that intentional abortion is unjust and therefore objectively immoral no matter the circumstances. Also, they argue that “the burden of carrying the baby is significantly less than the harm the baby would suffer by being killed; the mother and father have a special responsibility to the child; it follows that intentional abortion (even in few cases where the baby’s death is an unintended but foreseen side effect) is unjust ” (24).

Don Marquis (1989) in his article Why Abortion is Immoral, presents an extensive argument against the morality of abortion citing the potential of the fetus and its capability to be recognized as a being. As such, Marquis firmly believes that abortion is a wrong act and must be banned and condemned in a moral society. The perspective also supports his argument that killing humans is wrong. That killing any form of a person whether a fetus, two years old or even fifty years of age makes no outright difference.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that the vast majority of people consider it morally wrong to kill other persons. There may be examples of situations where the killing of a person may be justifiable, although they are by no means universally consented to, such as killing in self defence or as a form of capital punishment, but taken in isolation it is generally accepted that to kill is wrong. Therefore in the debate between pro and anti abortionists must centre around two essential questions: whether a foetus is a person, and if so when a foetus becomes a person; and whether abortion can be said to be self defence.

“Is abortion moral or immoral?” We yet have not acquired an answer to this question. Infer by that, we defend about the nature and the moral status of the fetus. In the other word, should we or should we not? Don Marquis as well as Bonnie Steinbock embraces with the argument of their own, which point out the morality of abortion.

This topic brings extremely concern to the public because it is one of the biggest controversies topics, which is an abortion. The question is whether an abortion should be performed or not and should be moral or immoral regardless of pro-life and choice of the mothers. However, the two authors, Lee and George, argue that the choice of abortion is immoral. Lee and George’s view on abortion is that a fetus is a human being at the moment of conception. Even though the baby inside her or his mother’s stomach is not fully developed, it is still a complete human being. Having an abortion is like it’s killing a human being, which they say that a fetus is innocent. Not only abortion is killed, but also called murder. Therefore, abortion is impermissible except the mother wants to protect herself from something. Lee and George give three reasons to their arguments of abortion why they think it is wrong to end the lives of innocent fetuses and not given a fetus a chance at life. First, it’s own distinct direction. Second, it is genetically human. Third, it is a complete organism. Not only Lee and George believe that abortion is immoral, but also many people believe it. That is because abortion is not something the mother can take slightly. Otherwise, this person is considered to be murder because many people value and want to protect human life, and Lee and George are one of them. They support human life and believe abortion should be illegal. In my point of view, abortion should