The Pros And Cons Of Abortion

There are two main political parties you can choose from in the United States, The Democrats and the Republicans. There are also third parties you can choose from. People can choose to be part of any party. We are divided by the left and right side on the political spectrum. The right are more conservative and the left are more liberal. These two political parties show philosophical differences through their viewpoints on major topics. With so many differences between the parties, finding topics or issues upon which constituents agree on can be difficult.

Jonathan Glover, in his article Matters of Life and Death casts dispersions on both pro-abortion and anti-abortion debates citing them as too knee-jerk emotional reactions diminishing the inherent complexity of the other side (1. Glover, CC2006, p. 0110). Glover comprehensively addresses the key points of both sides of the abortion debate and evaluates their inherent virtues, especially for those who hold these opinions, then methodically points out its flaws. Ultimately, Glover comes to the conclusion that though a fetus is a human at the moment of conception, the right to abort lies with the mother and her own self-determination.

Twenty to thirty million legal abortions occur worldwide each year. The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between – (Mother Teresa). Before 1973, individual states were allowed to decide whether abortion would be legal within their borders. The topic of abortion and whether or not it is right or wrong is a constant debate in todays society. Everyone has their own beliefs on the matter, but it should not be a question of what we believe, it should be the question of whether or not this procedure should be considered an illegal act. There are hundreds of woman everyday that have an abortion, and hundreds of innocent lives being slaughtered legally. The fact that this procedure is legal in the U.S, and that people actually see it as their “choice” or “right” to abort the baby, disturbs me immensely. Preforming the procedure of an abortion should be illegal in all states because abortion is murder, the fetuses can feel the pain during the procedure, and abortion can lead to psychological damage.

“How can the “Dream” survive if we murder children? Every aborted baby is like a slave in the womb of his or her mother. The mother decides his or her fate” (Martin Luther King, Jr). This quote, by Martin Luther King Jr, represents how Martin Luther King Jr really feels about abortions, and how abortions relate back to the idea of slavery. As abortions are spreading all across the world many people have wondered if there are any positives to abortions? If there are not any positives to abortion then people may wonder, what are the negatives to abortions, and how do other people feel about abortions.

Thomson brings up the standard anti-abortion argument. Every person has a right to life. A fetus is a person. Which means a fetus has a right to life. Therefore abortion is wrong. Thomson does not understand the jump from a fetus having a right to life to abortion being wrong. She believes that the fetus being a person or not is irrelevant to the argument. And abortion is based more on the rights of the woman, fetus, and who has more of the right of ownership of the woman’s body (Thomson 47-48).

Abortion is a subject that numerous people have strong opinions about; some believe that it is a form of murder and should be banned, yet others believe that the decision should be for the woman herself to make. In my eyes, the choice to abort or not abort is the woman’s, not the public’s. However, many men disagree with pro-choice.

Abortion is a very controversial topic in today’s society. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks (Abortion). Many people have issues regarding this topic, while some support the idea. This paper will be covering the pros and cons, people’s attitudes, and how a researcher could possible change your perspective on the topic at hand.

I hold the belief that a woman should have the right to have an abortion if that is what she would like. This means I identify as a pro-choice supporter. If the government ever decide to illegalize abortion, it would mean that women do not 'own' their body and instead the lawmakers do. As soon as a third party, such as lawmakers, are given the power to decide that abortions are wrong and they decide to ban abortions, women are no longer in control of their own bodies which makes them powerless.

In §2, I will introduce Judith Jarvis Thomson's argument that abortion is all right even when the fetus is considered a person. In §3, I will object to her argument about the matter. In §4, I will give an explanation of a response Thomson could have concerning my objection to her argument. In §5, I will explain how my objection succeeds by having support from another stance.

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.

Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that there are defenses of abortion and that the right to life is not an absolute right; therefore in some cases abortion is morally permissible (265). In order to argue this, Thomson outlines the relevant steps that help form her argument. One, every person has a right to life. Two, the fetus is considered a person. Three, the fetus therefore has a right to life. Four, the fetus’ right to life is stronger than the mother’s right to bodily integrity. Thus saying, abortion is impermissible. Provided recently by the relevant steps and the thought that all these conditions are intriguing, it helps lay out the main topic for her argument. Thomson’s essay is examining and arguing

I will dispute Thomson’s suggestion that the distinction is unimportant and argue that a stronger response to this objection is needed than the one she has provided with the violinist analogy. We will begin from a more fundamental distinction between action and inaction, where killing involves taking action while letting die does not. More accurately, one kills someone if one initiates events that end in his or her death whereas one lets someone die by allowing already existing events to end in his or her death. In extreme cases, such as those where the fetus puts the mothers life at risk, we must take into consideration that the mother has a right to life just as the fetus does. We then need to ask who’s right to life is greater? I will answer this question by saying that performing an abortion is an act of aggression, one with an intention to kill. Whereas to do nothing, would be to let the mother die and would not be an attempt by anyone to murder her. There is a passivity to the latter that should be seen as morally preferable than directly killing an innocent

We would all recognize, whether we are pro-life or pro-choice, that the freedom to have control over our mental and physical well-being is one of our most basic and important rights. If this was the only right to consider, then one could easily justify abortion, as Judith Jarvis Thomson does in A Defense of Abortion (1971). Thomson begins by allowing, for the sake of argument, that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception and so has the same rights as any of us. However, she holds up the right to have control over oneself as the greatest right of all. Thus, even though abortion kills an innocent person, it is not wrong. This reasoning seems flawed from the beginning because Thomson recognizes only the woman's right to control over her body, not the fetus'. However, even if we assume this to be true, her argument is still flawed. The freedom of control over one's body is important, but it is not the only right that must be weighed. More important is the right to life of the fetus, if it is a person. In denying a person his or her right to life, all other rights are rendered meaningless. For this reason, our society has deemed murder the greatest crime, to be punished with the harshest penalties. Therefore, if one right must be violated in order to preserve the other, the right to life must be

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

Abortion is an abomination and a serious confliction in civilization today. This heated topic is one inflicted upon by many different thought processes, morals, and religions, making it extremely controversial, but most do not realize one’s life is truly at stake. Abortion signifies revoking someone the opportunity of life, for the sole reason that things are not in our favor (Ladock). Ladock states the most important factor of abortion: human life is involved and killing it would be a crime. The innocent child in the womb is called innocent for a reason, and taking away the life of someone without their permission is cruelty and unjust. Just because a parent may not be prepared to have the child, does not mean they should be