The Abortion Controversy

The controversy within the biomedical ethics topic, abortion, has two main proponents. The first is the view against abortion, also known as pro-life. The other view is rooted upon the belief of being pro-choice, or basically for abortions. These two different views are like two mathematical principles, in that although these two views have many differences, they also have larger similarities in the background. For example, when pro-choice activists support abortions due to unwanted pregnancies, the activists are not rallying behind the idea of sexual incompetency (pregnancies due to lack of birth control). Rather, they are supporting the idea that women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies. In order to understand these opposing views, justifications and condemnations, on abortion, it can basically be divided into three categories. These categories are based upon the reasons for which abortions are carried out, and include congenital defects, rape, and economics. Congenital defects, is when deformities within the baby are detected during an early stage of a pregnancy. These defects, such as Down’s syndrome, are detected through an amniocentesis test. The second justification for abortion is from criminal cases, such as rape. A final reason for an abortion is due to economics, the financial condition, of a family. Economics can also include cases such as teen pregnancies.

The anti-abortionists have numerous reasons for their beliefs, and many of them are attached to their religion ideals. Religious ideals, range from having an abortion before 120 days after the pregnancy, as in Islam, to considering it a sin to have an abortion, as in Christianity. However, the anti-abortionists’ reasons also come from the belief that a human being is born after conception, and that the death of that embryo or fetus resembles the murder of an innocent human being. They believe that no one has the power to take command of another’s life, mainly an infant, which is dependent on others for survival during the initial stages of life. In addition, to the fact that abortions kill innocent human beings, anti-abortionists believe that they also damage the mental, as well as physical condition of the mother. Since, after an abortion a mother is more susceptible to breast cancer, and to periods of depression. In the case of congenital defects, the pro-life activis...

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...cal analysis of abortions. In the eyes of Economics, abortion can also have a negative effect, or an opportunity cost. For example, is the mother of Einstein or Darwin had an abortion, then the opportunity cost would be the loss of knowledge they discovered. Likewise, the opportunity cost of an unborn child due to abortion, whom could have had a significant effect on human race, can be devastating.

Work Sited

Anderson, D. E. Newsroom Guide to Abortion and Family Planning. Second Edition. Washington, D. C.: Dickinson Publishing, 1996.

Harrison, Maureen, and Steve Gilbert. Abortion Decisions of the United States Supreme Court: The 1990’s. Beverly Hills: Excellent Books, 1993.

Joffe, C. Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v. Wade. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1996.

Melville, Keith. The Battle Over Abortion. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1990.

Whitney, Catherine. Whose Life?. New York: William Morrow and Company Inc., 1991.

Internet Source. http://www.cbctrust.com/medproc.html

Internet Source. http://www.prolifeinfo.org/statestats.html

Internet Source. http://www.prolifeinfo.org/up16.htm

Internet Source. http://www.tidalweb.com/life/go.htm