The Ethics of Abortion

Each year there are roughly 6 million pregnancies in the U.S., with 20% resulting in the termination of the fetus, or abortion in other terms. Mathematically, that is estimated to be 1.2 million babies that have no hope for a future outside the womb (American Pregnancy). Everyone has a right to life; this right is exercised in many parts of the American life, namely the Declaration of Independence (The Abortion Controversy 113-116). Therefore, the United States’ federal government should go to greater lengths to prohibit these so called ‘abortions’ in every case, regardless of the situation. It matters not what the women who get these abortions think, and it matters to many that this is looked upon to be immoral (Guttmacher, The Abortion

Induced abortion is the deliberate ending of a pregnancy before the fetus is viable or capable of surviving outside a female’s body. Abortion has been practiced in every culture since the beginning of civilization” (Kaplan, Tischauser & Chara, 2015). Abortion is one of many controversial issues. It is a topic that is widely debated among many people. Abortion is a difficult topic of discussion, when the baby is a product or rape, or has Down syndrome or deformities. According to my Christian worldview, I will examine the abortion ethical dilemma, and compare it to other options of resolving the dilemma.

Abortion is one of the most controversial topics in the world today. There are many reasons and debates as to when, why or if a woman should have an abortion. One of the most controversial debates on this is when a woman finds out that their unborn child may have a deformity of some sort. In this paper, I will talk about abortion due to a woman carrying a child with Downs Syndrome and how this can be an immoral decision.

There are many ethical dilemmas in the world today such as euthanasia, performance enhancing drugs, pornography, abortion and more. Someone’s worldview is often a big contributor in the decisions they make in regards to the dilemma. Abortion is one of today’s most contested ethical dilemmas (Beattie, 2011). Susan is a mother that is debating whether she should have an abortion or not. Her ethical dilemma case will be analyzed and compared from a Christian worldview perspective and other worldly perspectives.

Abortion has been a perplexing and controversial debate throughout time. There are many articles and philosophers who state their strong polarized opinions on whether it is ethical to have an abortion. Some people believe that abortion is morally unacceptable and under no circumstances will it ever be acceptable. On the contrary, other people believe that a woman should have the right to choose whether she wants to continue with the pregnancy, especially under certain conditions. In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Jarvis Thomson uses real-life analogies to illustrate her key argument that, even assuming a fetus is considered a person from the moment of conception, the mother and the fetus have an equal right to life. Thomson believes that

If a fetus has a right to life, then the fetus’s right to life outweighs the mother’s right to decide what happens to her body.

Thomson wrote an article about abortion which called “A Defense of Abortion.” In this article, the author claims that it is not correct that the fetus is a human being from the moment of conception. Then, she suggests drawing a line in development of the fetus look dim. Before this line or point, the thing in a pregnancy is not a person. Besides, it is no doubt that he understands if the fetus has already become a human person birth, it has a right to life as well. However, the author also mentions a deeply controversial problem that if a pregnancy is the result of rap or a pregnancy has a cardiac condition, mother has a right to decide what shall happen in and to her body. We cannot ignore the pregnancy’s right because every person has a

Every day in this world, physicians suction thousands of babies from their mothers’ wombs through a procedure called abortion. Abortion is one of the most controversial issues debated in medical ethics. In the 19th century United States made abortion illegal. However, in 1973, abortion was legalized within the United States of America, which resulted in the termination of over 57 million pregnancies. This equals to 1 pregnancy every 24 seconds. Which means in an hour there are 155 abortions. The moral debate regarding abortion focuses on two specific issues: (1) whether a human fetus has a right to life, and, if so, (2) whether the rights of the mother ever override the fetus's right. The law protects and provides consent to both the mother

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.

Whilst it has been touched upon earlier, the ethical debate surrounding the status of embryos and fetuses is vast and complicated. A focal point of the ethical debate is the moral status of abortion as well as whether and on what basis it should be available to the public; it is through this topic that the ethical debate shall be considered.

When it comes to the debate on abortion, many people look at the different morally relevant issues at hand. Some philosophers can argue about the personhood of a fetus and whether or not the fetus is granted the right to life. Others may agree that a fetus is a person, but disagree on how moral an abortion is. In this paper, I will argue that the fetus is a person, but not all abortions are unjust killings; in my view, it is morally permissible to terminate a fetus if the woman has taken the proper precautions against pregnancy, if the woman became pregnant as a result of non-consensual sex/rape, or if the woman’s life is at risk. I will present the reasons for my view, support my view with the normative ethical theories learned in this

Abortion is the most controversial issues both in the political and social arena today. The two main arguments for and against the issue of abortion is based upon whether the unborn foetus can be considered human or not. Then begs the question, is abortion moral or immoral, should abortion be treated as murder or should it be considered a legitimate choice that is available for every woman or lady? Most debates about abortion focus much on politics and law which hinders the fundamental ethical issues involved with abortion. The legality of the abortion depends much on the status of the foetus. Is the foetus considered a person as the pro-life activists argue or does the mother have the right to decide whether to abort or not? (as pro-choice activists claim). In a world where the foetus could speak its mind, this could be so easy to decide.

Judith Jarvis Thomson, author of one of the most famous philosophical articles on abortion discusses the distinction between “the right to life” and “the right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life.” Thomson uses these terms as well as her famous violinist story and other examples to illustrate the morality and righteousness of abortion. Contradictory to most ethical writings on abortion, Thomson deviates from the argument regarding the fetus development and when/if a fetus becomes a person. For purposes of Thomson’s article, a fetus is a person from conception.

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

The topic of abortion has seen its fair share of morals, science, philosophy, and religion. However, from a simple biological standpoint we can determine whether or not this is a topic worthy of such intense debate. It seems the majority of those who oppose legal abortion believe in the sanctity of life, and some of these individuals are of religious background. On the other side of the fence, we have the supporters of legal abortion that usually use the concept of autonomy, that the government has no right to decide what a woman does with her body, to claim that anti-abortionists are flawed in their reasoning. The anti-abortion theory of the sanctity of life is based heavily on morality, but this reasoning becomes absurdity when faced with the concern of a fetus.