Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Abortion against human rights
Pro life versus pro choice ethical debate
Pro life versus pro choice ethical debate
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Abortion against human rights
I took the ethic class in this semester, besides explaining the morality theory that we could use in daily life, it is also talking about how to think some ethical issues in common nowadays and make the decision from the perspective of moral philosophy way. Abortion is one of the ethical issues that people argued a lot as. People are more likely deciding into two sides. Pro-life (abortion is morally wrong, fetus is like a human being.) and pro-choice (the fetus is not human being also woman should have right to decide) In this paper I will focus on mother-fetus relationships and Marquis’ argument for abortion is seriously wrong, afterward state I will explain why I think he made a successful argument and present my reasons for pro-life. Also, I will follow up with one of objection about human right for fetus and then respond my thinking to the objection.
Abortion is referring to the procedure of artificial terminated the pregnancy. Generally speaking, the main reason for abortion is to prevent the fetus’ birth from considering mother’s health or self-decision. I agreed with Don Marquis’ argument. He was proof abortion is morality wrong indirectly. In his conclusion, he first explained killing people is unethical, because the murderer deprived all rights and values from victim in the future. (From ethic class) A normal adult could contain variety future (experience, all kinds of activities, love or plan for own future). This could imply that, abortion is deprived all rights from un-birthed baby in future. Therefore, abortion is a seriously wrong. I believe that, by basically speaking, fetus and mother are equal value, once mother got conception, fetus become a human being, just like all of us. Indeed, he/she should have equal ...
... middle of paper ...
...an being has its own rights to survival and each one has own future value, even the value is not showing right now. We cannot arbitrarily deprive the rights from them. There is also a special case about early knowing that the fetus will be disable or woman being raped, so should we kill them? Are they having future value too? Or what if the fetus is risk mother’s life? It’s hard to answer those questions, if woman knowing that doing sex might be pregnant, and get pregnant, its woman’s responsibility, so that abortion is not permissible. According to this point of view, abortion is only allowed in case of woman got raped and pregnant or not voluntarily been using body, the concerted woman have not responsible for abortion. I believe that abortion is permissible from human moral side to lead to reduce the overall sadness for most of the people if in the cases above.
The topic on abortion gives a moral objection to a fetus’ right to life, while it is questionable whether or not the death of the unborn child is unjustifiable. Although it may seem as if abortion puts women in situations where it is necessary to save the mother’s life in some situations. Until both pro-life and pro-choice can come to a conclusion and an agreement, this debates on abortion will continually go on. Both sides need to be able to draw the line somewhere and balance each other’s weakness.
Don Marquis is a philosopher arguing that any form of abortion is immoral. His original thesis states: In the overwhelming majority of cases, deliberate abortions are seriously immoral. He begins by stating why killing is wrong in three statements. He states, “killing is wrong because it brutalizes the killer, it is a loss to others, and it robs the victim of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one’s future” (68). The first two statements do not address the fetus, but the last statement is very arguable, so Marquis emphasizes his argument on this premise. Depriving anybody of their future has many consequences. Some parts of a person’s future are valued now and some parts could be valued later. Therefore, it is wrong to kill any adult human because it is a loss of future (which has value). He addresses the questions of personhood by stating that fetuses have the potential to be humans. Therefore, killing a fetus is depriving the fetus of having a
Don Marquis primary argument lays on the fact that a fetus possesses a property, the possession of which in an adult human being is sufficient to make killing an adult human being wrong, makes abortion wrong (Gedge & Waluchow, 2012, p224). This property is the right to a valuable future. Marquis argument defends the position that abortion is morally wrong against pro-choice arguments, including the irrationality of a fetus, the lack of a fetus desire to live, and the fetus not being considered a victim.
Marquis believes abortion to be extremely immoral. However he mentions that there are exceptions in rare but certain circumstances where abortion is acceptable. We can infer that these instances would include situations that would put the mother or child at serious risk by keeping the fetus. He is frustrated that this idea has received minimal support recently. As a result he wants to influence change in society in hopes of receiving the support and publicity this topic deserves. Marquis’ primary argument stems from the idea of killing in general. He explains it is immoral to kill an adult because it prematurely deprives the human of something they may have valued at the time they were killed, as well as something they may had valued in the future. Although the victim may not realize it at the time of their death, they certainly had a valuable future ahead of them to experience which has been cut short. We are the only ones who can decide what is valuable to them; in this case we value some things more than others, and this concept differs from person to person. For example, in the present I value the life I am given and the opportunity I have to earn my degree at Villanova University while also valuing my future as well knowing that I have a chance to be successful in the future. Although I have not succeeded yet, I still value that opportunity I have and the life I’m capable of achieving through earning a degree. Therefore, he connects this same theory to the life of a fetus. By killing the fetus the result is the same, we are depriving it of its futur...
In Don Marquis’s essay “Why Abortion is Immoral” he argues that abortion is immoral because he believes that abortion is morally equivalent to killing an adult human being. Marquis’ argument takes the following form:
What is abortion? Abortion is killing a fetus inside a mother’s womb. According to Don Marquis, killing a fetus is morally impermissible. Marquis came up with an argument that views abortion as immoral and only in rare cases is it accepted. There are only a few rare cases that abortion is morally acceptable according to Marquis in his article, “Why Abortion is Immoral.” Marquis’s view on abortion is relatable because I am a woman and seeing as I am able to bare a child, I feel it is a women’s right to decide if abortion is permissible or not because it is her body and she has all the rights to her own body. Later described is FLO, one of Marquis’s arguments proving abortion is morally impermissible. I do not agree with the FLO argument. Marquis makes strong points, which can be agreeable, but in summary of Marquis’s arguments, he needs to have a more valid case of FLO.
Thirdly, Marquis concludes from the last two premises and says that if you kill a fetus then it is prima facie seriously morally wrong of you. By killing off a human being’s potential values, it is cruel, especially to children because they are defenseless. Then, Marquis asserts that if fetuses and adults are in the same moral categories then the fetus can only be aborted if there is a serious moral concern. In the beginning, Marquis proclaims that there are special cases like rape and the mom’s life being threatened that would override the “moral wrongness” of abortion.
To conclude, Marquis’s argument that abortion is wrong is incorrect. Thomson gives many examples of why Marquis is wrong, including that the mother’s right to her body
Why Abortion is Immoral by Don Marquis is an essay that claims that abortion is morally wrong, and uses one argument in particular to explain why. He argues that many of us would agree that it is wrong to kill a human, and if you believe that, then you should also have that view on abortions. If you think killing is wrong then you think all killing is wrong and the persons biological state, whether it is when a person is a fetus, one year old, or thirty years old, makes no difference. He then explains that killing is wrong not only because it is immoral, but wrong because it deprives the victim of life and the enjoyments one would have otherwise experienced; which Marquis believes is the greatest loss one can suffer (Marquis, 189). Given certain circumstances, Marquis agrees there are cases where killing is acceptable, but nonetheless it is immoral.
As one knows, some unwanted pregnancies could often be harmful and distressing for a woman. Women should have the right over their body to choose to sustain the fetus or not. In the past decades, women did not have their freedom of abortion in many countries of the world. There have always been controversies going on about abortion. Each individual has dissimilar views on the legality of abortion. Some people are against abortion for personal religious purposes and beliefs. For those who don’t believe in abortion, it is because they see it as killing a fetus, which is a human being. Others support abortion because they believe in women’s rights. Laws of abortion vary in each country, and abortion is not legal all over the world. It is illegal under any conditions but only permitted to save woman’s life if in countries such as Brazil, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, and Ireland. However, abortion is legal without any restrictions in countries like Canada, Albania, and Italy. It the past decades Abortion was considered as criminal act in Canada. “If an abortion was carried out without such approval, the woman was liable for imprisonment for 2 years, an...
George, the authors discuss about how abortion is morally wrong. According to the authors “human embryos and fetuses are complete (though immature) human beings”. Then they address counter arguments that human embryos are not the same a person because they are not conscious as a person is. The authors respond that human embryos have the “natural capacities” although less developed to reason, therefore according to the authors it makes no sense to say at which point an embryo becomes a person. And the authors conclude that the burden to carry out a pregnancy is less than “killing” the fetus. I also think that is not right to try to label an embryo as a human organism or not a person, it is a human person and it has a right to live. But you cannot force women to carry out a pregnancy they do not want, and no one should have a right to claim over their
It is saddening to see humans of the female gender, who find themselves in a situation that requires introducing a new life into the world; to abort such a precious gift. Many may wonder how these poor, innocent, unborn children are then discarded after the abortion procedure. One cannot fathom the reason of these gruesome murders that happens within these medical facilities. Babies are disposed in the red waste bins of these facilities, and later incinerated. Some may either be flushed down garbage disposals or even be sold off for research purposes. The issue of abortion is not just a social one, but also a human rights issue among the unborn children. I believe if the human rights of these children has been violated, then all other rights of humans are certainly meaningless.
Abortion has been one of the most talked about topics in society just about anywhere from television, magazines, whether or not it should be the right or wrong thing to do. Abortion is a very sensitive issue to discuss, because of its nature. Many people have said that abortion is a very bad thing to do and it should not even be choice whether or not to abort a living fetus. People think that abortion is committing murder as it is killing the human fetus. However, others feel that a woman should have a voice and have the right to choose to keep the child or not and that it is not murder until the baby is born. Majority of individuals who believe that abortion is bad say that the fetus is human who is partly being formed and to have an abortion is considered to be murder. For the people who think an abortion is ok, say that it’s not considered murder unless the child is born. I believe that abortion should be seen in which the stage the fetus is in. if the fetus is in an early stage of pregnancy it is not considered murder, but if the fetus has already began to develop into a larger fetus then it is indeed considered to be murder. There are times when abortion can be accepted, if the mother is having complications due to pregnancy. For example if the mother is enduring complications in her pregnancy that can harm her, because of the child in that case it is ok to perform an abortion to help save the mother’s life. It is also very important to understand this type of situation. The mother has the right to have an abortion and it is her decision because a mother knows best about her health conditions.
Where mother life is at risk, when pregnancy occur due to rape, where contraception fail and where mother intentionally became pregnant. I am against this believe because as we know if mother life is at risk then fetus life is also at risk; fetus is fully dependent with mother. If is planning for pregnancy she can meet with a doctor and ask is she ready to be a mother. On the other hand, if it is unplanned and unprepared then either she should be more careful about being a pregnant by pills, using contraception or any other medications if not then avoid sexual intercourse. In the case of pregnancy occurs due to rape what I personally believe is abortion call kill her. Her body is already in risk by rape and if she decides to do abortion in that situation then there is more probability of dying. Instead of that, she can give birth and give to adoption organization. Therefore, the people who want baby will take care of that baby. Second, some believe fetus is not person so it is permissible. I believe If killing a human being is wrong than killing a fetus is also wrong because it is like killing human cell. We cannot assume that to abort in early stage is nothing even though it is not well developed, but it matters. Abortion is not comparable with a haircut or an appendectomy that is the big mistake in life. She says we value our future, even if we do not value it because whether I value my future or not it is my future. She is trying to say fetus also have future, so before taking abortion decision we have to think about fetus future like ours. No one have right to kill an innocent human being because killing that being is like killing his