The Debate of Abortion
After more than a quarter-century of frenzied debate and denunciation (which began well before Roe v. Wade), one might think not. But there is at least one viewpoint that polls indicate is widely held but that is hardly ever heard amid the screams of ''Murderer!'' and ''Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!'' It deserves a full and reasoned exposition, however; it might even shed some light on the controversies about the confirmation of Dr. Henry Foster as Surgeon General and about harassment of abortion clinics. It is that abortion is justifiable only in extreme cases -- but that nevertheless the state must respect the right to receive and perform abortions. In other words, it is possible to be pro-life and pro-choice -- and as a matter of moral principle rather than political expediency.
As many people of both sexes instinctively recognize, abortion has to be looked at as a question not of law but of morality. Begin then with the position, common to most religions and many naturalistic systems of morality, of respect for life -- all life, but especially human. It seems impossible to deny that the developing fetus is a potential human being. Yes, from the moment of conception: in the early stages it may be a clump of cells, but that cannot be equated with the clump of cells that might be removed in an appendectomy. The fetus from the very beginning is endowed with all the genetic information that will enable -- in fact make inevitable, absent so...
In her essay, “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Jarvis Thompson outlines the most common arguments that people defend, and explains her views regarding each of these. She shares numerous examples and situations that she believes will support her views. One of her most prominent arguments is that of whether or not a fetus has moral standing as a “person.” She highlights the so called “battle” between an innocent life, the fetus, and the bodily rights of the mother. Within this argument, Judith outlines for us several situations which can provide people with a different outlook regarding abortion. Throughout Judith’s essay, she does not truly give a clear stance, but rather allows her readers to choose for themselves.
Abortion may be one of the most controversial topics in America today. Abortion is defined as “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus” (cite dictionary). There are really only two sides on people’s opinion on abortion; pro-life which means abortion should be outlawed and pro-choice which means a woman should be able to decide whether she wants to keep her baby. Thousands of protests and riots have begun due to the fact pro-life activists believe abortion should become illegal. Both sides bring valid points to support their decision that could sway any person’s thoughts. The Roe v. Wade law has allowed abortion to be legal in the U.S since 1973 (Chittom & Newton, 2015). The law “gives women total control over first trimester abortions and grants state legislative control over second and third trimester abortions” (Chittom & Newton, 2015). Ever since the law was put in place, millions of people have tried to overturn it and still
Abortion has been a perplexing and controversial debate throughout time. There are many articles and philosophers who state their strong polarized opinions on whether it is ethical to have an abortion. Some people believe that abortion is morally unacceptable and under no circumstances will it ever be acceptable. On the contrary, other people believe that a woman should have the right to choose whether she wants to continue with the pregnancy, especially under certain conditions. In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Jarvis Thomson uses real-life analogies to illustrate her key argument that, even assuming a fetus is considered a person from the moment of conception, the mother and the fetus have an equal right to life. Thomson believes that the human fetus doesn’t have the right to occupy a woman’s body for survival, if it against her will. Thomson argues that, even if we grant that the fetus has the right to life, abortion would still be morally permissible in cases of rape, dangerous pregnancy or contraceptive failure. In this essay, I will argue that even if the fetus has the right to life, abortion, is still morally acceptable in the case of ectopic pregnancy, rape and contraceptive failure, as the fetus doesn’t have the right to use a woman’s body without her consent or if it endangers her.
Abortion alone has always been a major issue. Whether it’s the woman having to decide to get an abortion, or anti-abortion groups who are against abortions, trying to make them illegal all over the United States. Deciding on legalizing abortion in the United States seems to be an even bigger issue. For years people haven’t been able to come to a conclusion, legalizing or illegalizing it for good. Abortion which means the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus. Legalizing abortion has always been a big controversy. Deciding whether or not it’s up to the mother if she decides to terminate her pregnancy. For the sake of society’s future, it is important to dwell on the question: Who gets to decided if abortion should be legal in the United States?
With the ongoing debate and the advancement of technology in determining the viability of a fetus, abortion, the ending of a pregnancy by removing a fertilized egg, has become increasingly controversial. The morality of abortion has caused many to separate into opposite sides of the spectrum, pro-life and pro-choice. The arguments over abortion has stirred a continuous debate between a pro-choice stance such as that presented by the analogical reasoning of Thomson or Glover’s examination of social context and a pro-life position argued by a moral view of personhood by Noonan. The ethical arguments presented by the conflicting views in the abortion debate has caused others to taken into consideration a sociological account visible in Luker’s examinations of world views in order to discover underlying motivations.
Abortion has been one of the biggest controversies of all time. Many people believe it is immoral and even consider it to be murder. The definition of abortion is; “The termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth.” 1 These pro-life believers do not support the idea of induced abortion and believe it should be illegal. Many of these supporters do not know that if abortion were illegal they would still be performed, unfortunately by an uneducated staffs. Over 70 thousand maternal deaths occur every year because of unsafe abortions1. These women die, so the idea of supporting pro-life is contradictory, this is why the nation should be pro-choice.
The Abortion Debate According to Dean Stretton, “The most plausible pro-life argument claims that abortion is seriously wrong because it deprives the foetus of something valuable. This paper examines two recent versions of this argument. Don Marquis’s version takes the valuable thing to be a ‘future like ours’, a future containing valuable experiences and activities. Jim Stone’s version takes the valuable thing to be a future containing conscious goods which it is the foetus’s biological nature to make itself have.
Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in the United States today. According to oxford dictionary, abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks. The two factions involved in this controversy are poles apart in their views on abortion: where as the pro-choice movement contends that a woman’s right to abortion is absolute, the pro-life movement asserts that a fetus’s right to life is indisputable. The argument has become very pronounced since the U.S Supreme Court ruling in the year 1973 in Roe V. Wade, which legalized abortion. According to the ruling, a woman’s right to abortion outweighed the rights of a nonviable fetus and prohibited the State interference. In addition to the fact that pro-choicers have always praised Roe for recognizing that a woman’s right to control her body is more important than a fetus’s right to life, this idea is also supported by different organizations such as Alan Guttmatcher Institute (AGI) whose mission is “to protect the reproductive choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world.” (Par 1) While some people believe that abortion is immoral others argue that it is a woman’s right to have full control of her body.
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.”
What if I told you that right now someone was deciding, without even knowing you, whether you would live or die? What if I told you that this choice wouldn’t be based on what you could or couldn’t do, it wouldn’t be based on what you have done in the past or what you will do in the future? And what if I told you that there was nothing that you could do to change their mind? That choice is abortion, and that someone is a child’s mother. Millions of innocent children die every year simply because they can’t speak for themselves, the unborn are humans and we can’t continue to take their rights away.
One subject in society that is greatly debated is abortion. The debates are basically divided into 'Pro-Life' and 'Pro-Choice'. Pro-life supporters want abortion to be illegal and not performed anywhere. Pro-choice supporters want the choice to be up to the woman and no one else. There is no ethical way to decide between the two subjects and it's all based on what the person's moral values.
One of the most controversial topics in society is abortion. The act of removing a fetus to end pregnancy has divided the world. Although abortion is being discussed among friends, politicians, and even on blogs in the modern era, it has been in practice in the US since the early 1800s. It was mainly done to keep unmarried women from having children if they accidentally got pregnant. They considered an unmarried pregnant woman not marriageable material so abortion was one way to hide that fact that woman were pregnant at one time. To further hide the fact that the woman was pregnant, abortion was done illegally and as a result numerous deaths occurred due to that fact. Abortions kept increasing to a point that 30 percent of pregnant women were choosing an abortion by the 1970s (Johnston). As the topic grew on the minds of people two opposite groups emerged defining the abortion debate, pro-life and pro-choice.
Defined as ‘’abortion (also called induced abortion) is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy by surgical or medical (with drugs) means. The unintentional termination of a pregnancy (due to medical disorder or injury) is known as a spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage.,’’ (Vaughn, 2010 p. 161) Abortion has been the source of the considerable debate for many years. Most people have a strong feeling towards one way or another. The fight between pro-life and pro-choice most people believe in one of the two things; either they believe it is an immoral act to kill a baby regardless of the situation and the prescribe to the pro-life plate form or they believe it is a women’s body and therefore, she has the right to do what she wants with it.
Choice, what is choice? Choice is the right, power, or opportunity to choose. Everybody in society has a choice and these choices have many outcomes. A woman’s right to choose to have an abortion or not, is her fundamental right. If society outlaws abortion, society is interfering with the woman’s right to make decisions related to her own body. Many theorists believe that sexuality is what divides women from men and makes women less valuable than men; keeping this concept in mind it can be said that gender plays an immense role in social inequality. In one of Thomas Jefferson’s speeches, he explains how we should never put at risk our rights because our freedom can be next. (lp. org 2007) Roe.V .Wade is believed to have been the United States Supreme Court’s decision that resulted in the dawn of the abortion controversy between pro-choice and pro-life advocates, and whether what the woman is carrying is simply just a fetus or a life, the debate is endless. The social-conflict theory reflects the inequality women face regarding abortion in society which brings about a negative change. If a woman’s right to choose would be taken from her then this would cause social inequity. Taking a women’s right to choose would mean taking her freedom and taking freedom away from any human being would imply inequality.
The simple definition of the termination of pregnancy has such an up roar and a voice of opinions in society. When many hear the word abortion, they think of a woman getting rid of her baby because she was not being safe with her partner and that she is making a selfish decision. An abortion can also occur spontaneously where it is then referred to as a miscarriage. It is important to understand reasoning behind why each abortion was chosen before judging the parents of the baby or the doctor involved. Many say that abortions are unethical as they are speaking in the baby’s voice, but some voices find the side where there are circumstances that make an abortion ethical and necessary which defines pro-choice and pro-life.