The Ethics of Contraception

910 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ethical debate on abortion

Since their development, contraceptive techniques and their widespread use have caused some controversy between groups with different views on the issue. Contraception is defined as any method that is used to prevent pregnancy and it can come in a few different forms. Barrier methods prevent sperm cells from reaching the ovum so fertilization cannot occur. Other methods that have received more criticism are those that use hormones to prevent implantation of the already fertilized ovum. There is also a post-coital contraceptive pill, more commonly known as the morning after pill or emergency contraception, that can be taken if other methods of birth control have failed or were absent. It works by causing the lining of the uterus to shed, taking the potentially fertilized ovum with it (“contraception” 2005). These two methods are often considered abortion because some individuals view the fertilized egg as a human life that is deserving of the right to life, the most basic of human rights. Utilitarianism does not completely oppose the use of contraception; it weighs the outcomes of every situation individually when determining if the action is ethical or not. This is a more realistic way to view this situation. The main opposition to the use of contraception comes from the Catholic church. The Natural Law views a fertilized egg to be a tiny human life and states that all human life is created in God’s image and that we are all deserving of the right to live. It also states that no person can choose to take the life of an innocent individual (Leies 2010). However supporters of the use of contraception will take a utilitarian view and focus on the outcomes of all the potential actions and their consequences to determine the best ... ... middle of paper ... ...there will not be a burden to care for a child so both of the parents will be able to attain more education and get a higher position career. Therefore, a utilitarian would most likely support the use of contraception. Works Cited “contraception.” The Crystal Reference Encyclopedia. West Chiltington: Crystal Semantics, 2005. Credo Reference. Web. 22 November 2013 Jarvis Thomson, Judith. "A Defense of Abortion." Applied Ethics. By Peter Singer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. 37-56. Print. Kelleher, J. Paul. "Emergency Contraception and Conscientious Objection." Journal of Applied Philosophy (2010): 290-304. Print. Leies, John A. Handbook on Critical Life Issues. Philadelphia: National Catholic Bioethics Center, 2010. Print. Singer, Peter. "Taking Life: The Embryo and the Fetus." Practical Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ., 1993. 136-51. Print.

Show More
Related

  • A Secular Defense of Pro-Life

    2741 Words  | 6 Pages

    There are many different beliefs floating around Christian as well as secular circles as to what it means to be “pro-life”. Some claim that this view equates all forms of contraception to abortion while others claim that to be “pro-life” one must only be against abortion. In his book The Pro-Life/Choice Debate, Mark Herring summarizes the Humanae Vitae, a document released by Pope Paul VI in the late 1960s, saying “it warns against using contraceptives and engaging in sexual relations for their own sake…” The stance that will be taken in this paper will be that to be “pro-life” is to be against abortion and not contraception. Equating all forms of contraception to that of abortion is an ill-founded and uneducated claim that does more to hurt the perception and potential power of the pro-life movement than it does to help it. It allows the discussion to veer far off the path, as can be seen in Christina Page’s book How the Pro-Choice Movemen...

    Read More

  • Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life: No Correct Answer

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth; it causes the termination of the embryo or fetus inside the women. There are two different types of abortion, a spontaneous abortion, which is also known as a miscarriage, and an induced abortion, where the embryo or fetus is purposely removed from the women’s body. The topic of induced abortion has been widely debated for hundreds of years. The issue of abortion was argued way back in the time of the ancient Hebrews. In the United States it became illegal around the mid 1800’s and not until the 1960’s was the argument for the right to abort brought back to the table. In 1973, the Supreme Court case “Roe vs. Wade” made abortion legal. The case stated that abortion was legal in the first trimester (three months) of pregnancy (O’Brien par. 17). Since that day over 30 years ago, there have been many cases in which abortion has been disputed. Congress has passed many laws restricting abortion rights, including in cases such as Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services and Stenberg v. Carhart (O’Brien par. 18). There are many other cases like these and each time is seems more likely that a woman’s right to choose could be overturned (“Reproductive Rights” 26). There are many different ranges of beliefs about the morality of abortion, whether or not one should have an abortion, and under what conditions the termination of pregnancy is acceptable. Many argue at what point in the process of pregnancy a human person comes into existence. People disagree about whether anything from an ovum to a fetus is a form of human life. No person knows this information, but it is debated among the two major sides on this issue. The first side are those that believe abortion should be forb...

    Read More

  • Progressive Era Dbq

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    The fact that the only physician to support contraceptives was a woman speaks volumes about the disconnect between the male and female perspective on the issue. It begs the question: Can a man objectively weigh in on this issue? Since inarguably both the physical sacrifice and emotional burden of carrying to term and caring for an unwanted child lay solely on the

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Pro Choice Vs Pro Life

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Morality Of Birth Control Rhetorical Analysis

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine in today in America’s hyper-sexualized society, not being provided with any knowledge about contraception or sex education. Before Margaret Sanger’s activism, most women were in this position of oblivion about their own bodies. In “Morality of Birth Control”, Sanger argues effectively for the legalization and acceptance of both birth control and sex education using ethos, pathos, and logos to strengthen her argument.

    Read More

  • The Reproductive Right Debate

    2552 Words  | 6 Pages

    No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.

    Read More

  • Bodily Autonomy Research Paper

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women have a moral right to decide what they do with their bodies. For the most part, female bodies past the age of twelve are capable of holding, developing, and “incubating” a baby; with the help of antibiotics, cesareans, and powerful drugs, girls are able to survive the actual process of childbirth. But being able to have a child and being a parent are two very different concepts. By agreeing to parent a child you are investing and ensuring at least eighteen years of love, support, health, money, time, and dedication. It can be argued that raising a child is the biggest and most transformative thing that most of us will ever do and the notion that a woman should just “go with it” upon finding themselves pregnant after rape or a broken condom completely diminishes the role of motherhood. I’m pro-choice because just like humans, contraceptives are imperfect. The Pill has become one of the most sought after forms of birth control with headlines blaring the famous, “99% effective.” With its fifty year legacy, it easily makes the Pill the oldest and seemingly the most reliable contraceptive. Under perfect use the pill works 99% of the time. However, people are imperfect, and each year in our imperfect world, one out of every eleven women on the

    Read More

  • Abortion: A Matter of Choice, Safety, and Morality

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Anti Abortion

    2206 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Abortion Pill

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    The subject of abortion has created some of the most controversial, social, and moral debates in United States history. On Jan. 22, 1973, in the case Roe Vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that it was a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion during the first trimester of the pregnancy (The Ruling). Still other interest groups argue that human life begins at conception and having an abortion is murder to an unborn child. These opposing viewpoints create a delicate political and social debate in which the lives of unborn children are placed in the center. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the RU 486 “abortion pill”, citing that the “overall safety of the pill is excellent”(Food and Drug). This scientific development has the potential to make abortions much more accessible and private to American women. I believe that the abortion pill harbors great qualities for women who choose abortion, yet is an enormous medical setback because it will cost the lives of so many more unborn children.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Abortion

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Abortion is a voluminous topic today all around the world. Differing viewpoints on abortion are recognized in politics, religion, and throughout the general population. There is a small amount of people who are nonchalant on the subject. Women have abortions for many different reasons and according to certain groups these reasons are either justified or not. Everyone tends to have their own articulated opinion, and many vocalize tenaciously what they believe. Pro-life individuals along with religion are sanguine that abortion is ethically and morally erroneous. Whereas those who are pro-choice say that abortion is inconsequential and the mother’s choice is more important than the fetus. Reasons to not get an abortion include risks involved in receiving an abortion. In some cases death can occur. However, there are other alternatives to abortion. For example, raising the child and adoption.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Abortion

    2300 Words  | 5 Pages

    Abortion is defined as a procedure that is done to remove an embryo or fetus from the uterus of its mother in order to prevent its birth (Roth, 2005). Abortion is categorized as a bioethical issue because it relates to the morals of biomedical advances, policies and research. Abortion is a difficult subject that can involve personal morals and beliefs, legality and religious values. The issue is often viewed from either the side of pro-life, which places emphasis on the fetus and its right to life or pro-choice, which emphasizes the rights of the mother to decide the appropriate action (Roth, 2005). This brings the ethical question of should the government have the right to outlaw abortion into debate. The two viewpoints of pro-life and pro-choice explore the two main moral issues concerning abortion (Roth, 2005).

    Read More

  • Essay On Conception And Pregnancy

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. They both share the same meaning as well, which is the process of not getting pregnant. Let’s starts of with contraception. There are tons of methods to prevent pregnancy to choose from. Choosing not to have sex, birth control pills, birth control shot, birth control patch, birth control implant, vasectomy, IUD, vaginal ring, cervical caps, male condom, female condom, contraceptive pill, contraceptive foam, contraceptive implant, contraceptive sponge, contraceptive suppositories, diaphragm, emergency contraception, fertility awareness method, injectable contraception, intrauterine contraception, the shield, and the withdrawal method. All of these methods may be 99% positive to preventing a pregnancy from happening, but there is always a 1% chance that a pregnancy can happen. Some various methods of contraception, such as diaphragms, condoms and induced abortion have existed for 100’s of years. Despite the wide availability of contraception, unwanted pregnancy remains a huge problem in the U.S. It’s crazy really, so many birth control methods to choose from and still, U.S is one of the areas where abortion is the highest. Moving on, when someone is selecting a contraceptive method, they should really consider the

    Read More

  • Abortion Should Be Illegal

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abortion has been accepted by the United States of America ever since the monumental Roe vs. Wade case in the early 1970’s, but is still a very controversial issue. Many people are for and against abortions. Some people say that the child inside its mother’s womb deserves the opportunity to live, while others believe that a mother has the right to choose whether or not her fetus can live or die. Other advocates for abortion claim that abortion helps keep the threat of overpopulation down. They also say that in many extreme cases, it is in the best interest of the mother and the child that the fetus be aborted. Abortion helps keep the crime rate low, so it should remain legal, they also say.

    Read More

  • Position Paper On Abortion

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abortions have always been a very controversial topic. Over the years we continue to fight for or against it. One can say that is one of the most talked and argued topic in the United States. An abortion is when a woman terminates her pregnancy before the fetus is viable using various of methods. Some argue that abortions should be illegal and considered murder, while others, from a religious point of view, say that no one has the right to take away the life of a person, in this case the fetus. However, others insist, that abortions are a basic women’s right.

    Read More

More about The Ethics of Contraception

Open Document