Is Abortion a Defendable idea on Moral Ground?
Is abortion a defendable idea on moral grounds? Of the many moral issues that exist, abortion seems to be the most controversial and has sparked numerous debates in almost every sector of society. This crucial yet sensitive issue continues to negatively affect the lives of humans. According to Tom Head (2003), abortion is destroying the physical and spiritual body. “It is the intentional termination of a pregnancy after conception. It allows women to put an end to their pregnancies, and involves killing the undeveloped embryo or fetus”. At the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus becomes alive. This new life now, imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it. Let us also examine the term morality.
According to (carm.org.dictionary.)” morality is the distinction between right and wrong. It further stipulates that which should be done and what should not be done. Biblically, morals are derived from God’s character and are revealed through the scriptures. Boss (2008) states that, many people look to religion for guidance. The concept of God in major religious world is intimately connected with that of moral goodness. God the giver of life made mankind in His own image. The Bible also declared that any man defiled the temple which is referring to one’s body, him shall God destroy. Killing humans are against many ethical and religious beliefs and abortion is tantamount to murder. On which aspect of morality then, can we truly say that abortion is really defendable on moral grounds?
In exodus 20:13 mankind was warned. “Thou shalt not kill.” It is morally wrong to abort a baby for personal or economic problems. Even if a woman is raped, two wrongs don’t make a right. Deny...
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...the definition of morality as was mentioned previously in this paper.
References
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Head, T. (2003) About. com. Guide, Retrieved April 18 ,2014 from http :// civil liberty.
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Psalm (139 v 13-15) The Holy Bible. The New King James
What is Abortion? Retrieved April 18, 2014 from http:// wwwemedicimehealth.com/abortion/articleem.htm. (carm, org, dictionary)
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websitehttp:/civilliberty.about/com/od/abortion/f/whatabortion.htm
Thou shalt not kill; one-tenth of what may arguably be the most famous guidelines of morality in the western culture, and also the main driving force for pro-life advocates. The argument supporting their beliefs typically starts with the premises that a fetus is a person, and to destroy or to kill a person is unethical. Therefore abortion, the premeditated destruction of a human being, is murder, and consequently unethical. I deny the fact that the fetus, what I will refer to as an embryo up to 22 weeks old, has the right to live. The opposing argument is invalid because a fetus, although perhaps a part of human species, is not formally a person. This leaves it simply to be a part of the woman?s body, whose fate lies solely in the hands of the pregnant woman alone, no different from a tumor she might have. By proving this, the abortion debate then becomes an issue of women?s rights, something that is most controversial indeed. Furthermore, it is fair to question the credibility of many people against abortion because of obvious contradictions in the logic of their belief systems. The fact that this debate is relevant in modern society is ludicrous since there is a simple and plausible solution to this problem that could potentially end the debate for good, leaving both sides satisfied.
A Defense of Abortion In her argument on abortion, Judith Thomson discusses some major points about abortion. She deals with extreme cases and those extreme cases help us to realize a single perspective of abortion. For example, she talks about the violinist attached to you. In that example, you keep everything constant and focus on a single point, violinist being dead if you unattached him.
One of the biggest issue of abortion goes back to the controversial question of when human life actually begins. Many people will often argue that a fetus is a living being from the moment of conception and feel that it deserves the same legal protections as an adult, therefore making it immoral to kill it. Just like in our court system, we would not put an innocent person on death penalty. The fetus has done nothing wrong and has the right to live. As the editor of Christianity Today wrote, "abortion is one of those monumental issues of justice that comes along once in a lifetime. It is violence against children, a hideous act of poisoning or dismembering tiny bodies, then dumping them in a landfill or garbage disposal." On the other hand, those who are for abortion say that a fetus is only a "potential human being." The advocates for legal abortions want the mother to choose whether she keeps the baby or kills it, and the rights of a mother supersede the rights of a baby. John M. Sw...
“Any American born after 1973 is a survivor of legalized abortion” (“Abortion”). This quote struck me because of its frankness. After it was legalized, many women had an option to abort their pregnancy against the Catholic Church’s wishes. Any child that was born after that year could have been aborted. This shows that many of the people that are living today could have been killed simply because the mother did not want them and they were considered to not be living in the womb. Being here today, many people survived the mass murder that is abortion and still continues today. The Church urges every mother to think about the morals and laws that God has sent to us. “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). This includes the fetus in the womb that has been alive since conception. The views of the Church and the views of society fight against each other constantly. Abortion is the killing of a human being and is accepted by modern society despite it being against the teachings of the Church and moral good.
The following essay will examine the morality of abortion with specific reference to the writings of Don Marquis, Judith Jarvis Thompson, Peter Singer and Mary Anne Warren. I will begin by assessing the strength of the argument provided by Marquis which claims that abortion is impermissible because it deprives a being of a potential “future like ours,” and then go on to consider the writings of Singer, Thomson and Warren to both refute Marquis claims and support my assertion that abortion is morally permissible primarily because of the threat to the freedom and bodily autonomy of women extending the right to life to a foetus in utero would pose.
The decision to abort a pregnancy improves the lives of women across the world everyday. Abortion should remain an option because many deaths are caused by unsafe abortions, individual morality should not govern society as a whole, and no scientific evidence has been presented to confirm that human life begins at conception. Moralists promote the belief that legal abortions are dangerous and that human life begins at conception, however both of these claims have been refuted. When performed legally, abortions are one of the safest surgical procedures. Women should continue to possess the right to terminate their pregnancy for any reason.
Since the Darwinian Revolution of the 19th century our society has turned upside down. Everything under the sun had become questionable, the origin of life, how we came to be, where are we headed and what to do in the here all became questions in life. But one of the greatest impacts of this new age thinking is its effect on our Old World values. Western societies values, morals and ethics became debatable, with some people striving for change and others clinging for stability. Battle lines had been drawn and the Liberals and Conservatives were ready to duke it out on a number of issues. One of these debates centers on a woman?s right to have and abortion. According to the Webster?s dictionary and abortion is defined as a miscarry, something misshapen or unnatural. An abortion is a procedure in which an embryo or fetus is prohibited from developing by artificial means. One could argue that this is next to murder. How can we as a society sanction the murdering of developing babies? Also it can equally be stated that abortion is unnatural and a health hazard to women who have undergone the procedure. Whatever the case, abortion should be outlawed because it is immoral and mothers should face the responsibilities of their actions. Many arguments can be used in order to put an end to abortion or at least in order to establish dialogue. One of the oldest arguments against abortion is the religious standpoint. Western society (Canada & U.S.A.) is historically a Judeo-Christian culture with Judeo-Christian values. Although in recent times we have become an increasingly pluristic society the Old World thinking is still at the heart of our social relations and laws. The Bible says ?Thou shalt not kill? thus prohibiting people from harming others or themselves. Abortion and its advocates violate this law. They seek to change one of the most fundamental values of our society. Pro-choice under this stance is equated with murder and ?playing God?. One may raise the question, how can a minority inflict its views of the majority? According to Francis X. Meenan, this is a false assumption. He goes on to claim that those who favor abortion on demand are the real minority (Bender & Leone, 97). He also claims that the issue of abortion is a moral debate and cannot be settled by numbers. So even if pro-choice advocates outnumbered pro-life advocates, this would prove or...
Abortion Abortion is an ongoing controversy that affects millions of Americans every year. Abortion is the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy (Dictonary.com) -. The law provides and protects the mother's decision. and consent for medical professionals to perform these procedures. There are several factors that are considered in debating whether abortion is morally permissible or wrong.
to have a child loose in the world would put even more guilt on the
Although the Bible ; the old testament used by Jewish believers; both the new and old testaments used by Christian believers, does not specifically deal with abortion it does place validity on life before birth. Exodus 21:22-23 says: If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Quest NIV pg.235). Though this does not directly say abortion is wrong it does say that the loss of the fetus, "giving birth prematurely", should be punished. Whether by a fine or by taking that man's life as well. This shows that God considers the fetus to be alive and the unnatural death to be murder. The words that emphasize the value of fetus life are "take life for life" meaning the fetus is alive. Other verses that show the validity of life before birth are Psalms 139:13-17: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them (Quest NIV pg.678)! These explain that God has a plan for each personÕs life before they are even formed. They say how He cares so much for each one of us that He watches over us while we are still in the womb.
...istianity approve, so they aren't credible either. So it seems that religion will always provide exceptions for its theories that aren't supposed to have any. Is abortion right? Think for yourself. Turning to religion leads only to confusion.
There will never be a universal answer to whether a fetus is a person or not. Going by the traits that make a person, a fetus is not considered a person. It is not living, it cannot make rational thought and it cannot communicate with others. Therefore, the decision to have an abortion is permissible and does not infringe on any persons right. A woman has a right to body and has the choice to have an abortion if she feels necessary. The argument to whether abortion is permissible relies on one’s beliefs to what makes a person. If one believes life starts at conception, then they would perceive abortion as being morally wrong. Those that follow specific traits that make a person, find abortion permissible. The issue is determined not by one view, but many. That is why there will never be any one answer to the morality of abortion.
Many people try to justify their actions for abortions, insisting that it is in the best interests of the child. The reasons women have abortions are not simple and can be difficult to understand, they can cover a broad range from rape, deformity, not being able to provide for the child, in another relationship, or unplanned pregnancy. Some women state, “I may not be able to provide it with a good life” to “It was bad timing and I can’t support a child right now”. In the case of rape it’s not the baby’s fault, instead of punishing the criminal it is giving the ultimate sentence to the child, the capital punishment death. “The circumstances of a preborn child's creation should not modify, let alone negate, his or her right to life. In other words, the preborn baby has a right to life regardless of the circumstances under which he or she w...
The first moral issue is the moral status of the fetus (Roth, 2005). This deals with the question of whether or not the fetus should be considered as a person and at what stage does the fetus become a person. The second moral issue is the rights of the mother (Roth, 2005). This deals with the question of whether the mother has the right to decide to carry the fetus full term or not. It is important to note that there are two separate questions regarding abortion, one being its morality and the other being its legality (Roth, 2005). There are things that are considered immoral but they are not necessarily illegal. For example, marital infidelity is considered to be wrong but it is not illegal.
One of the most debated subjects throughout the world is abortion. Abortion is the premature termination of pregnancy by spontaneous or induced expulsion of a nonviable fetus from the uterus (Dictionary). In certain circumstances, abortion could be beneficial for the mother with factors such as: age, rape, financial stability, and complications that could long-term harm the potential mother and child. Women of all ages are entitled to their right to abort regardless of how morally right or wrong it may be. Some people believe abortion goes against their religious and cultural backgrounds. However, other people believe because it is the woman’s body they should be liable to do as they please. Whatever the situation