Violation: The Morality Of Abortion

One of the most frequently debated topics in bioethics is the morality of abortion, or the ending of a pregnancy without physically giving birth to an infant. Often times abortions are categorized into either spontaneous, a natural miscarriage; induced or intentional, which is premeditated and for any reason; or therapeutic, which albeit intentional, its sole purpose is to save the mother’s life. It seems however that moral conflicts on issue mainly arise when discussing induced abortions. In general, people universally agree it is morally wrong to kill an innocent person and in some people’s eyes induced abortions are the intentional killings of innocent persons, thus making them immoral. However not all individuals view fetuses as persons and consequentially argue it is not morally wrong to kill them.

Abortion is one of the most controversial topics in society. Many people believe it is immoral while others believe it is a personal decision. An abortion is the “removal of of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy” (dictionary.com). On January 22, 1973, the U.S Supreme Court declared abortion legal due to the landmark Roe v. Wade court case (OBOS Abortion Contributors). The Supreme Court declared that women have a right to have abortions under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

There are many common pregnancy alternatives, but most often the resulting decision is abortion because it is effortless. Abortion is endings a women’s pregnancy by removing or forcing a fetus or embryo from the mother’s womb before it is able to survive on its own. Not all abortions are purposely done some are spontaneous like when a women that has a miscarriage. Rather abortion is done purposely or naturally it is a worldwide complication as to it being wrong or right. Abortion is an ethical issue that will be analyzed according to a personal worldview and Christian worldview. Ethical thinking will be examined by value-based decisions that address abortion from the perspective of a Christian worldview and comparing it to a personal assumption by addressing ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison.

Abortion and the morality of it has been a hot topic for years in the United States although it has been carried out for centuries in different cultures. Abortion is a medical procedure deliberately terminating a pregnancy. Abortions usually happen within the first 28 weeks of pregnancy and are considered an outpatient procedure. The first abortion laws were passed by Britain in 1803 and by 1880 most abortions in the U.S. were illegal, except for those that were performed to save the life of a woman. This exception to the rule gives insight into the battle that exists today and the ethical debate of abortion.

Abortion refers to the termination of a pregnancy in one of two ways. One, the abortion pill (medically induced abortion) or two, surgical abortion depending on how far along the woman is. In 1973, a famous court case, Roe v. Wade legalized abortion across the nation and nullified the Texas state prohibition. The only time the state could intervene was after the first trimester, but during this time the woman had the right to privacy of her own body. After this staggering case, this controversial topic took off at full speed. What the court failed to address was whether human life started at birth, conception or somewhere in between. Splitting the nation into two sides, pro-life and pro-choice, the question if abortion should be legal or not still has not been answered. In defense of this ongoing argument, the pro-choice side is morally and socially correct.

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. Since 1973 abortion has been an important controversial issue within the United States. 1973 marks the year that the famous Rowe versus Wade case was decided before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that abortion be legal and available to all women. Legal abortions can be performed up until the sixteenth week of pregnancy, after sixteen weeks most doctors or clinics will not perform the procedure unless keeping the baby presents a medical risk to the mother. Even in these situations abortions are very risky after sixteen weeks.

People of all walks of life are too familiar with rape. Rape is any penetration of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by another person’s sex organ, where the victim does not give consent (Frequently). The sensitive topic is a global issue that no type of individual can avoid. A person, ranging from twelve and older, gets sexually assaulted every 107 seconds. This is equivalent to 293,066 people per year. Between the years 1995 and 2010, in America, 91% of rape victims were female (How). What do women do if they suddenly become pregnant due to such an event? Some may not be able to afford raising a child, others may not want one. Others may not be ready to take on the responsibility. An abortion is the premature

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.

Typically performed by the end of the second trimester, abortion is the intentional termination of a pregnancy. Although abortion is a modern controversy, it has a long history. In the 1880s abortion was made illegal. Even though abortion was illegal from the 1880s up until Roe v. Wade in 1973, the estimates of illegal abortions ranged as high as 1.2 million per year (Tietze and Henshaw). In 1971, Jane Roe, a 21 year old pregnant woman living in Texas, fought to eradicate the prohibition on abortion. The law in Texas, as in many other states at the time, prohibited abortion with the exception of life endangerment. Henry Wade was the Texas Attorney General who defended the law that made abortions illegal. After hearing the case, the Supreme

After trying for many years, a woman was successful in becoming pregnant. As a component of one of her routine pre-natal appointments, she was tested for fetal abnormalities. A blood test confirmed that her baby has Down syndrome and her physician recommended aborting the fetus. Down syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality that leads to intellectual disability, weak muscle tone and a unique facial characteristic. Down syndrome children often have increased risks for heart defects and other medical conditions such as gastric reflux. Taking care of a child with Down syndrome can be both mentally and physically exhausting. Taking care of a child with Down syndrome can be equally rewarding.

On January 22, 1973, one pregnant woman made a radical argument to legalize abortion to the Dallas County Court in Texas that would dramatically shake the future of America. This young pregnant women known as Roe defiantly claimed to the assembly that the Texas laws for abortion were unconstitutional. The laws to establish abortion were authorized by the state governments at that time, and specifically the Texas laws ruled abortion illegal unless the mother’s life was threatened. After this heated debate known as Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court eventually declared a woman 's constitutional right to have an abortion (Kaplan 49). Ever since abortion was legalized in the court decision of Roe v. Wade, the justification for this act is that a fetus is not a person until viability, that women have a clear right to privacy for abortion laid out in the fourteenth amendment, and that if abortion was illegal, back alley abortions would become frequent and a risk to many women; despite this, a more persuasive view on abortion would be that a fetus is a potential life, that abortion denies a fetus the right to life and happiness guaranteed in the fourteenth amendment and the Declaration of Independence, and that legal abortion leads to more abortions and more use of abortion for the intent of birth control.

In the article Ethics of Abortion, much of the pro life argument seems to be

Despite assurances, the risk for fetal defects due to chromosomal aberration remains, physically (tallness, low fertility, infertility, and breast enlargement), mentally (potential manic-depressive problems), and behaviorally (tendency towards behavioral disorders). Purdy (1995) argued that every child should be provided with at least a minimally satisfying life, and genetic defect and its physical, mental and behavioral consequences cannot provide that level of satisfying life. Otherwise, the child will be socially outcast among the “defectives,” she will feel unloved, feels resentment for the short end that her birth had given her. The mother also will blame herself for giving birth to her, watching her suffer from such burdensome conditions. Her descendants too will be burdened with her genetic defects and the resultant woes. Purdy (1995) also insisted that, until there are assurances and certainties that the risks are not going to happen, it is the moral duty of the mother to not bring defective babies into the world, and burden the society for their care.

What if someone told you that each year thirty million innocent people were killed without being able to defend themselves (citation)? What if you were then told that these thirty million people were unborn babies? Does that change anything? Oxford English Dictionary defines abortion as, “The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.” Notice how the pregnancy is described as human in the definition. Abortion is a human rights violation because it is a form of torture, Article three of The Bills of Rights protects the right to live, and it is similar to the issue of slavery.

The reason I would define the term human this way is as follows. If you have two groups of objects which are similar but separate you define these two groups by the defining characteristics. Take for example mammals and birds both are warm-blooded some of each can fly. All birds lay eggs and one species of mammal does as well. A defining characteristic though is that every mammal has hair and no bird does. The same thing goes the other way, every bird has feathers no mammal does. What characteristic then separates humans from non-human animals? The characteristic that makes sense to me and that has moral significance is clearly our ability to love, to put the needs of others before ourselves, and do it regardless of the personnel cost. Without this ability we would not even be having a debate on the morality of abortion. Thus I am arguing that the human ability to love and have a moral compass is what gives us our inherent value.