Moral Permissibility Of Abortion Essay

Abortion is “the act of extracting the unborn human being from the womb”. (Lee and George, 2005, 37-51) Some people consider abortions to be completely immoral while others support abortion and like to ensure the privileges of women rather than an unborn child. Numerous tests can be made to choose for coveted characteristics, for example, deafness in an unborn child. Would it be morally wrong for a listening to couple to choose against deafness or for a hard of hearing couple to choose for deafness? In The Moral Permissibility of Abortion, Margaret Olivia Little argues that abortion is often morally permissible. (Little 2005, 51) I will argue against Margaret Olivia Little who believes that both couples have a decent reason for abortion because

Although some people including philosopher Mary Anne Warren acknowledge that human development is a progressive methodology, and that it is nearly impossible to mark a specific moment at which a fetus becomes biologically distinct in its ability to classify as a person. (Warren, 1973, 43-61) Warren proposes that we should assign personhood at the moment of birth rather than the moment of conception, based on the theory that the establishment of social bonds begins at this point. (Warren, 1973, 43-61) However, I believe that numerous hopeful mothers already form a mental bond with their unborn child where they would cooperate with the child in the utero. For instance, a study of women who had gone through a miscarriage showed that they were 18% more depressed, 31% more nervous, and 17% more prone to nervous breakdowns. (Neville, 2005) This not only shows that women are able to develop strong emotional bonds with their fetus, but they may suffer psychological trauma once in the event that it is gone. On the other hand, Singer says that it is wrong to kill an innocent human being (Singer, 1986, 125-134). He argues that in the initial eighteen weeks of pregnancy, where the being cannot even be esteemed conscious, a fetus nor a newborn have the key attributes required for personhood: rationality, self-consciousness, awareness, autonomy, pleasure and pain (Singer, 1986, 125-134). However, I disagree with

Consider Thomson’s thought experiment: “you wake up in the hospital to find yourself connected to a violinist with fatal kidney ailment. In fact, you were kidnapped to provide life to the violinist for the next nine months” (Little, 2005, 51-62). You have a choice to unplug the cord that would kill the violinist, or to endure the nine months. This example strongly illustrates that it is perfectly acceptable for the person to detach himself because the violinist has an absolute right to live since he is alive and is not at fault. The connected person has no indebtedness to remain connected for nine months because it was not a voluntary choice and the violinist has no right to use another person’s body (Little, 2005, 51-62). Thomson uses this example to argue that a mother has no obligation to carry a child in her womb for the full nine months if she has not assumed responsibility for it. No one is morally required to make large sacrifices for nine months in order to keep another person alive. In contrast, gestation period is something that a couple planned and even if it is not, all individuals sexually active are mindful of the conceivable results. Due to this, the fetus number into an obligation and the pregnancy spell into