preview

The World Needs Abortion Essay

Good Essays

One of the most important philosophical issues ever concerns the definition of a person and who is able to feel. Abortion, which is a deliberate termination of pregnancy, is one of the most important practical applications of that issue. Life on Earth is threatened with destruction from overpopulation and the poverty that overpopulation causes. Fortunately, abortion can prevent overpopulation. The question about whether abortion should be done is primarily the question about whether the embryo or fetus is a person. In most cases, the embryo weighs less than 100grams: less than 10% of human brain. Abortion should be legal since it is useful and since humans become conscious after birth, not before.

Values for Human Society
People are …show more content…

If an embryo that does not feel is terminated, then the conscious object, a person, is never created. Not creating a person is not immoral: When people are not having sex, they are not creating a person. If the society has an optimum population, the net benefit (benefit minus harm) of an extra person will on average be zero.

Practical Effects of Abortion
The world has a problem of overpopulation, not under-population. The environmental problems occur largely because too many people exist and strain the natural resources. Thus, not creating an extra person is on average good for the society. (If creating a person would on average be good, then more people should be created, and the population size is too small, not too large.) In abortion, when a mother chooses not to create a person, the person is unwanted and thus probably should not be created.

Much of the poverty found throughout the world is caused by having too many children. Abortion prevents that and thus reduces poverty. Poverty contributes to crime. Therefore, abortion reduces crime. Unfortunately, the government in the USA does not support abortion for poor people.

A serious defect in an embryo gives additional reasons for its termination. For example, Down syndrome is a severe congenital disorder that "is a major cause of mental retardation, worldwide." (Cozic 138) Fortunately, fetal testing (with abortion) can prevent it. If the couple with a defective embryo is

Get Access