The Argument That Contract Pregnancies And Gender Equality Is Correct, But It Is Not A Good Enough Reason

If a woman concedes to voluntary sexual intercourse, she has incurred a responsibility to care for the fetus, since she is responsible for its existence and subsequent dependence on her body for sustenance. Consequently, she has a moral obligation to sustain it until birth, an obligation that ought to be legally enforced by proscribing abortions. (Manninen 41)

Before women had rights to decide whether they could keep their baby, some states didn’t allow abortion, therefore requiring women to give birth to their child. In today’s current issues, abortion is still a controversial subject with millions of people supporting it or not supporting it. Every woman has the right to make changes to her own physical body, and those rights should not be taken away, according to the constitution. In the very famous case in 1973, “Roe v. Wade”, the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. In the article, “Roe’s Pro-Life Legacy”, it is explained how after this movement, the right to abortion, lives have changed and led to lower abortion rates (Sheilds 2013.)

Some anti-abortion activists argue that a woman has “waived control over her own body” when she makes the decision to engage in sexual activity, an activity which could lead to pregnancy. (Roy 339) “Thus where sex is voluntary, the pregnant woman has at least tacitly consented to the possibility of pregnancy.” (339) If this is the case, these anti-abortionists argue, then a pregnant woman has given up the right to “make a choice,” as the choice-making phase of the

Yes, I do believe as Americans, we should organize for reproductive justice rather than just settling on abortion rights, birth control and reproductive rights. The reason I believe we should just settle for reproductive justice because, it’s helpful for women who have suffered greatly. It is dangerous for us if we don’t let women think for themselves. For example, women who don’t receive a good quality of education will never be able to have a bright future for themselves and their children.

The topic of reproductive rights surrounding women in Texas has been a hot buttoned issue since the closing of many reproductive centers across the state. Recently damaging abortion restrictions were passed and therefor encroach on women’s reproductive rights even more by decreasing access to abortion care. Texas’ 84th Legislature, both passed HB 3994 as a law and had it Governor Abbott make it effective with his signature on July 8, or this year. This law complicates access to abortion services for mistreated and neglected minors and for those who do not possess specific identification cards in Texas.

Mary Anne Warren (p.195-196) points out the exceptional circumstances of pregnancy; where one human is entirely biologically reliant on another and where it is impossible for complete personhood rights to not be in conflict between the foetus and the mother. Consider the following case. A mother and an expecting mother both express an intent to kill their child or unborn child respectively. Services are available to take the postnatal children from their mother without affecting her body. Yet to protect the foetus, one would have to imprison the mother until birth, or worse, force a caesarean on her. Warren (193) points out that forced caesareans are not merely a hypothetical

In his piece titled “Why Abortion is Immoral”, author Don Marquis argues against abortion primarily using a “future like ours” approach, which is essentially the idea that killing fetuses is wrong because it deprives them of their future. In this paper, I will evaluate Marquis’s views on abortion, and then I will provide my own argument on why abortion is acceptable in most cases. I will do this by highlighting how Marquis fails to consider the mother’s role in abortion. Finally, I will address concerns regarding the mother’s responsibilities in pregnancy by going over situations in which the mother has no obligation in keeping the child.

While parts of both may be true, both cannot stand side by side as completely true when discussing abortion. As they stand today, fetus rights and female rights are incompatible in arena of abortion. Even the “other side” agrees that the two cannot stand shoulder to shoulder. In a chapter entitled “Abortion Does Not Violate Human Rights”, Christian Beenfeldt quotes Brian McKinely when claiming that female rights have a higher precedence than fetus rights: “It’s actually quite simple. You cannot have two entities with equal rights occupying one body. One will automatically have veto power over the other.” So one question remains, which more important, fetus rights or female rights? The winner of this question can be decided by one simple factor: is the fetus to be considered a true, living human being at the point of conception, or does true human life not begin until after birth? A clarification should be made here, however. In this paper it will be assumed that everyone involved in this debate considers a newborn child to be a human being. That is, at the moment of birth, a child either becomes a human being or continues to be a human being; regardless of the fetus’s life state before birth, it will be assumed that all agree that birth “confirms”, so to speak, the life and human existence of the newborn.

The right to have children is understood in very different ways and people’s ethics and values are put to the test each and everyday when they find out they not only must take care of themselves but the lives of another human being. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted this statement regarding the right to bear children “men and women of full age, without any limitations to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and found a family”[1]. This concept has been viewed in multiple ways and according to ethical theorists; they agree that no rights are absolute. However, it is said that for women at least, there is a fundamental privilege to have children. The right to

As a young woman who is constantly concerned about her wellbeing, I urge you to oppose the H.R. 354: Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2017. The fight for women’s rights has always been a controversial topic dating back to the 19th century, and the services Planned Parenthood offer are very beneficial for women who want to gain essential information increase their life, labor, and learning opportunities in order to live a stronger lifestyle. According to their website, Planned Parenthood has aided 2.5 million patients to health care and if it is defunded it could affect defenseless communities and their wellbeing. Planned Parenthood should continue to be funded because it provides sex education for teenagers and adults, gives women the ability

Throughout American history, women have faced many challenges to earn equal rights in almost all aspects of life. Although changes have been made, today there are still battle to be won. One of these issues is the struggle for improving reproductive rights. Women are often judged for their maternal decisions, whether that is in choosing surrogacy, abortion, and even those who choose different forms of contraception. Over the years, Planned Parenthood and other health services have recieved a negative connotation for what services they provide, especially on the basis of providing abortion services. With our new president in office, women are concerned that their reproductive rights, such as the right to have an

Mothers who give birth at a young age, increases the possibility of the child having parents who are not prepared, poverty, and sexual exploitation(Erdmans and Black 47). Many children who come from unintended pregnancies end up suffering from the circumstances their parents have, and sometimes reflect the actions of their parents. The possibility of the child dropping out of school, and becoming a young mother are higher(Brown and Eisenberg 62). The children most likely did not have the best parenting, and did not get enough attention from their parents, causing them to care less about the outcome of their future. Many parents and teachers claim that the majority of the children born from unintended pregnancies are emotionally unstable(Brown and Eisenberg 62). The children did not get enough love and attention from their parents causing them to be emotionally unstable, since they don’t know how to receive and react to love. Taking away funds on planned parenthood not only affects women but their children

The modern world is in the midst of reconstructing gender roles; debates about contraception, reproductive freedom, and female inequality are contentious and common. The majority now challenges the long established assertion that women’s bodies are the eminent domain of patriarchal control. In the past, a woman’s inability to control her reproductive choices could come with ruinous consequences. Proponents of patriarchal control argue against reproductive independence with rhetoric from religious texts and with anecdotes of ‘better days,’ when women were subservient. Often, literature about childbearing fails to acknowledge the possibility of women being uninterested in fulfilling the role of motherhood.

Laws are legislated and enforced for the mere purpose of protecting all individuals in a society by stating what is and what is not acceptable behavior. Though it is impossible for these legislative decisions to please every single individual in a society, these governs are passed in morality of the thousands of elected parties in charge. Commercial surrogacy is a current complex issue that evokes strong moralistic response. Commercial surrogacy takes away the childbearing element in the reproductive period for individuals looking to have or extend a family. It has opened the doors for many who cannot bear children of their own though this behavior has also raised many concerns about the appropriate scope of the market. This “method for acquiring children” is more commonly objected because the children and women’s reproductive ability are being treated as a commodity. Summed up through Elizabeth S. Anderson’s article, “Is Women’s Labor a Commodity?” children are buyer durables and women are baby factories (Anderson 82). Anderson communicates commercial surrogacy children as commodities stating how this “market” that these children are born into expresses attitude that endorses market norms as opposed to ‘norms of parental love”(Anderson 76). Anderson focuses her paper towards the manipulation, alienation, and exploitation of women that commodifies women’s reproductive capacities. Through Anderson’s argument and her perceptive relations of this market to alienation,

We are nearly 20 years into the 21st century, and generally speaking there has been progress and obstacles in the pursuit of women rights. An issue that I would like to expand on that is within the parameters of women’s rights is reproductive rights and justice. Reproductive rights as a goal is universal, but it is also complex. This complexity stems from the fact that not every oppression is the same, and what one person could consider a benefit, others could find fault in it. I believe that the grundnorm that forms the basis of reproductive rights is bodily integrity, and when we think of bodily integrity we should think through a transnational feminist lens. From this concept of transnational feminism, it is important to note that feminism should be plural because a transnational approach “points to the multiplicity of the world’s feminisms and to the increasing tendency of national feminisms to politicize women’s issues beyond the borders of the nation state” (Gupta 24). A transnational feminisms approach allows for us, the reader, to yes acknowledge that there are commonalities, but to create a coalition we must also acknowledge the differences and build from there. Our lives are structured around so many systems that are in effect that we do not acknowledge. An unsupported claim I am going to say is that a lot of people do not realize the effects of globalization because we, as people, are individualistic. The fact that we as people are individualistic is relevant to bodily integrity because we do the things we do for ourselves. Whatever we do to our bodies is our choice, or we like to believe that we should have the right to make that choice. This matter of choice is something that constantly is brought up when reproductive rights are discussed. Space, solidarity between the sexes, the social and material conditions of a given situation, the effects of class and race divisions, biological contingency, and individual control and collective responsibility are intersecting axis that make up why it is difficult to essentially please everyone in the fight for reproductive rights. Some reproductive issues that I would like to examine are sex-selective abortion, access to birth control, and forced