Abortion is an ethical issue because there are many differing views on if it morally right to terminate a pregnancy before normal childbirth. Some people believe that abortion is acceptable, others completely disagree with the practice and other believe it is acceptable under some circumstances. This is an ethical issue because there is the ‘Pro Life’ argument, where there is the belief that abortion is murder, and the unborn child has the right to live as anyone else does, there is also the ‘Pro Choice’ argument, where there is the belief that the woman has ‘reproductive rights’ and can choose what she does with her body, because it is her body. There are also views of abortion that come from religion. People base their views on their values, …show more content…
beliefs and experiences. In New Zealand, there were 14,073 induced abortions in 2013, this is the lowest number of abortions since 1995 (13,652). In 2013, the highest number of abortions (31%) happened in women between the ages of 20-24 (Abortion Organisation, 2015). Abortions are free to New Zealand residents (Family Planning, 2014). Number of abortions between the years of 1980-2013 (Statistics New Zealand, 2013) The Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 (CS&A) sets up the Abortion Supervisory Committee which reports annually to Parliament. It restricts where abortions may be performed. For pregnancies under 12 weeks these may be carried out in a licensed clinic and for pregnancies over 12 weeks these must be carried out in a licensed hospital. The Abortion Supervisory Committee sets up and maintains the list of certifying consultants who may approve abortions and oversees the availability and quality of services. Counselling services must be available (Abortion Organisation, 2015). The Act outlines the procedures to be adopted by a woman seeking an abortion. First she will see her own doctor, usually her general practitioner or a family planning doctor. Her doctor will arrange a referral to a licensed clinic (for a pregnancy under 12 weeks) or to a specialist operating in a licensed hospital (for a pregnancy over 12 weeks). First an operating surgeon must be willing to perform an abortion, then the woman must obtain the approval of two certifying consultants, one of whom must have experience in obstetrics. A certificate must be issued for the performance of an abortion. A doctor who has a conscientious objection to abortion is not required to assist in the performance of an abortion. The doctor has an obligation to inform the woman where the service can be obtained. After 20 weeks gestation the grounds are stricter and it must be necessary to save the life of the woman or prevent serious permanent injury to her physical or mental health (Abortion Organisation, 2015). The grounds for an abortion are not contained in the CS&A Act but in the Crimes Act 1961 (and two amendments passed in December 1977 and July 1978). These grounds are; Serious danger to life, serious danger to physical health, serious danger to mental health, any form of incest or sexual relations with a guardian, mental subnormality, fetal abnormality (added in the July 1978 amendment). In addition, other factors which are not grounds in themselves but which may be taken into account are; Extremes of age, Sexual violation (previously rape) (Family Planning). This raises an ethical issue because abortion is being criminalised a woman has to prove that she is mentally unfit to raise a child, to be able to undergo an abortion, this raises the controversy of the woman's rights to be able to be in control of her body, without any questions being asked. Whatever your age you have the legal right to choose what you want to do about your pregnancy, including seeking an abortion, so long as you are considered competent to really understand. There is no legal age limit on seeking or having an abortion. This means that a woman or girl of any age can consent to an abortion or refuse to have one, as long as she is “competent”, able to really understand. If you are a teenager it is a good idea to talk to a parent or another trusted adult. If you choose to seek an abortion, it is good to have adult support. Girls under 16 do not need to tell their parents or get their permission to have an abortion. A woman also does not need the agreement of her partner before having an abortion. The man has no legal right to be informed of the women’s decision. Abortion services are confidential. Doctors, nurses and other health workers are not allowed to give out information about you without your consent unless they think that you are in danger. This is an ethical issue because there are issue raised from parents or guardians not being notified, and also there are issues and con Right to Life is a Christchurch-based pro life group, who oppose abortion in New Zealand.
Right to Life’s objective is to “pursue the legal recognition of the status of unborn children as human beings endowed with an unalienable right to life” (Right to Life). Right to Life value the life of the unborn zygote, embryo or fetus, because they believe that whatever stage of pregnancy that the woman is in, the baby's life is valuable. Right to life values the unborn baby over the mother's well-being, as they believe that under no circumstances should a baby be aborted. Right to Life seeks to expose organisations such as NZ Family Planning, whose agendas are to undermine the family and to freely promote the acceptance of abortion, abortifacient drugs and comprehensive sex education (Right to Life). Right to Life's objective is to work purposefully towards, the achievement of the realisable ideal of no abortions within our society. Right to life's strong attitude towards this issue is shown though provocative statements such as; if you say “It's a Woman's right to choose” you are really saying “It’s okay to kill Babies” and “We will not ‘agree to disagree’ that it is okay to dismember our children”. Another anti abortion organisation is Prolife, Prolife is a movement of young people committed to building a culture of life in New Zealand. Their views against abortion is based on the statement they believe “Birth is not the start of a new human life, but a change of the baby’s environment” (Prolife, 2014(2). Prolife believe that abortion denies the most basic of human rights, the right to life, which is justly due to every single human being. Prolife believes that “not only is abortion hurting our children, but it’s hurting our women
too”. Prolife believes that the physical and psychological effects of abortion can be harmful and long-lasting and many women are unaware of this at the time they are faced with the decision of whether or not to end the life of their unborn child (Prolife, 2014) . The ethics approaches used by both Right to Life and Prolife is the utilitarian and rights approach, this is because both anti abortion groups share the belief that the unborn child has the ‘right to life’ and under no circumstances should be aborted because it is not the mother's decision to decide whether or not the unborn child can carry on living. Also they both believe that abortion can have serious effects of the mother's well-being, and it is better for her well-being to carry on the pregnancy.
As to any argument, there are two opposing sides when it comes to the matter of abortions. These two opposers usually refer to themselves as “pro-life” and “pro choice”. Pro-life supporters maintain that abortion is wrong and pro-choice believe that it is a woman’s freedom to choose her pregnancy decisions. When it comes to the topic of abortions, most of us will readily agree that it’s a woman’s choice to decide what her reproductive decisions are, i.e. pro-choice. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is in the question of whether or not abortion is a fundamental right granted to women by the Constitution. Whereas some are convinced that a fetus is considered alive at conception, usually citing the word of God, others maintain that
Abortion is a very controversial and sensitive topic in today’s society. Two different sides to this argument is pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life proponents believe in the right to life for unborn fetuses saying that abortion should be considered murder regardless of how far along in the pregnancy the woman is. Pro-choice advocates people who believe the woman carrying the fetus should be able to make her own decision on aborting the fetus.
Pro choice vs pro life has divided people for numerous reasons. Abortion is expected to date back to the 1800s, it is now seen as taboo and inhumane to some. Fact of the matter, whether abortion is wrong or not it is the fight for giving a woman a natural right to her own body. For decades, legislators that are full of man have created laws and regulations on abortion. Abortion ideally ought to be pro choice for women everywhere for the victims' own protection, expanding young girls life opportunities, and individual freedom.
In America abortion is one of the most heavily debated topics in recent years. Pro-life or pro-choice? Many people believe it is immoral and even consider abortion to be murder. The definition of abortion states “The termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth” Did you know that 1 in 3 women in the U.S. will have an abortion in their lifetime? (Baker, Aspen. "A Better Way to Talk about Abortion." Aspen Baker:. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.) When first researching this topic I wondered, “What’s the big deal? Why would it matter if someone who was never even born, died?” And I realized that babies that would have been born due to abortion,
Pro-choice versus pro-life argues over the issue of what should be the right stance when dealing with the life of an unborn child. From the perspective of a person who is pro-choice, they believe that “individuals have unlimited autonomy with respect to their own reproductive systems, just as long as they don’t violate the independence of others.” Pro-choice also argues that the government should not have the right to decide whether a woman should exterminate her pregnancy or not. From their viewpoint, they believe that what should be legal in the eyes of the government is contraception use, celibacy, abstinence, and abortion for the first two trimesters of pregnancy. On the stance of pro-life, they argue that the government has a right to protect this regardless of any situation.
...ions over her own body; whether it is parenthood, adoption, contraception, or yes, abortion. After all, it is entirely plausible for people to be personally pro-life but politically pro-choice – this suggests that they respect each individuals’ rights over his or her own body and recognize that each woman should be allowed to have options. Regardless of whether or not she chooses to have the child, it is the fact that she has a choice that is crucial, and it is imperative that each woman have the freedom of individual autonomy. In order for this to occur, abortion must continue to be legal. Ultimately, being pro-choice is not necessarily advocating the use of abortion – it is about ensuring that abortion is legal so that women may have the option to exercise their right to individual autonomy and make the decisions that best reflects their stance in life.
Three Works Cited Many people believe abortion is only a moral issue, but it is also a constitutional issue. It is a woman's right to choose what she does with her body, and it should not be altered or influenced by anyone else. This right is guaranteed by the ninth amendment, which contains the right to privacy. The ninth amendment states: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This right guarantees the right to women, if they so choose, to have an abortion, up to the end of the first trimester.
Abortion is an issue which separates the American public, especially when it involves the death of children and women. When an abortion occurs, the medical doctor removes the fetus from the pregnant woman. This particular act has separated the public. Many believe that abortion is not morally and ethically correct. On the other hand, some people believe that carrying and delivering the unborn child will hinder the safety of the mother, then an abortion is needed. Each view has its own merit in the debate. This debate has separated the public into two sections: pro-life and pro-choice. A pro-lifer opposes abortion, whereas, a pro-choicer believes that the decision to abort the child should be left to the mother because she is the one carrying the child. In this paper, there will be topics that will be discussed concerning pro-life and pro-choice. I hope at the end of this paper, the reader is able to gain more knowledge concerning each topic. Every woman has the right to control her own body.
In our society, there are many ethical dilemmas that we are faced with that are virtually impossible to solve. One of the most difficult and controversial issues that we are faced with is abortion. There are many strong arguments both for and against the right to have an abortion which are so complicated that it becomes impossible to resolve. The complexity of this issue lies in the different aspects of the argument. The essence of a person, rights, and who is entitled to these rights, are a few of the many aspects which are very difficult to define. There are also issues of what circumstances would justify abortion. Because the issue of abortion is virtually impossible to solve, all one can hope to do is understand the different aspects of the argument so that if he or she is faced with that issue in their own lives, they would be able to make educated and thoughtful decisions in dealing with it.
Abortion advocates ask “What about the mother?” and the prolife advocates answer “what about the baby?”- The Feminist Case against Abortion. Serrin M. Foster. Sept 2015. Web jan 2015. http://americamagazine.org/issue/feminist-case-against-abortion. This is a very serious subject in our society today. Almost 42 million induced abortions happen all over the world each year. This is 42 million unborn children that never had a chance or even a say in what their futures would hold. This is not preventing poverty; we have proved that, this is our country not holding anyone responsible for their actions. Those that have supported this action are just as guilty as those that have committed the injustice act. These children did not ask to be made
The permissibility of abortion has been a crucial topic for debates for many years. People have yet to agree upon a stance on whether abortion is morally just. This country is divided into two groups, believers in a woman’s choice to have an abortion and those who stand for the fetus’s right to live. More commonly these stances are labeled as pro-choice and pro-life. The traditional argument for each side is based upon whether a fetus has a right to life. Complications occur because the qualifications of what gives something a right to life is not agreed upon. The pro-choice argument asserts that only people, not fetuses, have a right to life. The pro-life argument claims that fetuses are human beings and therefore they have a right to life. Philosopher, Judith Jarvis Thomson, rejects this traditional reasoning because the right of the mother is not brought into consideration. Thomson prepares two theses to explain her reasoning for being pro-choice; “A right to life does not entail the right to use your body to stay alive” and “In the majority of cases it is not morally required that you carry a fetus to term.”
To understand the prolife philosophy, one must look beyond mainstream media. Not only can they be bias about their reports, they can be at times completely incorrect. One must look to the prolife movement to get a better perception on what it means to be prolife. It is more than just a division between to ideas of right or wrong and freedom of choice. Many pro-choice activists know less of the actual abortion process than any prolife idealist, they feel as though it is simply just a decision that needs to be made about a situation. Contrary to their belief, it is so much more its scientific with new research surfacing all the time, it’s laws and protection, and the medical and physical side effects of this
This particular movement stands for the rights of the unborn child. It argues that life begins at conception and the zygote is a person through and through, and therefore deserves rights the promote its protection and go against the right to an abortion. Some Pro-Life activists advocate for special circumstances of abortion, like rape, incest, and the mother's health. However, most believe that any move made to terminate a fertilized egg is murder. The National Right to Life Comittee was formed in 1968, and the National Right to Life organization in 1970, both supporting the legalization of anti-abortion on the grounds of moral and religious values (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pro-life_movement). However, despite being Pro-Life, this movement has a long history of violence. In 1998, Robert Sanderson, and on duty security officer at an abortion clinic died when his place of work was bombed by Eric Rudolph. Rudolph also later admitted to three other Altana bombings. A Doctor George Tiller was shot and killed by Scott Roeder, another Pro-Life activist. Another more recent attack in a long list of violent outbreaks was the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado SPrings, Colorado in 2015. The attack left 3 dead and several injured. Robert L. Dear was suspected, and referred to himself as a “warrior for the babies” at his hearing
The people are pro-choice and defend the women who decide to have an abortion. Many don’t know this but, some people, known as pro-life, will deliberately go out of their way to attack women who have had an abortion. They harass, threaten, stalk, and sometimes even go as far as killing women who took an unborn child’s life. “Pro-life position is that a new human life is created at the moment of fertilization and is, thus, entitled to the same legal protections as any other human being” (WND). With that being said, pro-life supports the idea that every child has a right to live and to be born. They don’t believe any excuse is acceptable to terminate a child’s life, even if the mother is mentally unfit or not financially stable. Their argument is more focused on the unborn child rather than putting themselves in the mother’s shoes (Human Rights). Pro-life supporters do not see the reasons, situations, or benefits to abortion for the mother. There are many reasons to why people do not want to support abortion. Supporters of pro-life think women who get pregnant and want an abortion are irresponsible. To bring an unwanted child in the world is what’s irresponsible. The main reason being, killing an unborn child making the mother a murder in their eyes. What pro-life people don’t understand is that some children could potentially die from the
Abortion “is an issue that raises questions about life and death, about what a person is and when one becomes a person, about the meaning of life, about the rights of women, and about the duties of men”(Velasquez 485). Abortion is an unresolved ethical issue that has been in doubt for many years because one can argue that you are killing an innocent person/fetus but many argue that is not person because they don’t have a conscious or the characteristics that defines a “person”. John Stuart Mill in a way justifies abortion, Mill is known to be openly speak about women’s rights and about human rights. Although, it might be immortal to end someone’s life one might argued that the individual has the right to choose and have the option. But in