The argument of abortion has been raging since the Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, in 1973. This court case has divided the country into two factions: pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-life advocates argue that abortions are murder and extreme levels of child abuse. While pro-choice advocates believe abortions are a justifiable means to end pregnancies. The pro-choice argument is that the fetus is not yet a human being and its rights should not override that of the mother’s. An importance on what defines a human is very important. Is a human the result of sperm fertilizing an egg? At this point of fertilization the human is composed of a single cell with a unique DNA structure. Killing this unique cell would be wrong, however does this …show more content…
Even if a fetus is defined as a human being because it has a potential life, if the fetus does not yet aspire to live. It is impossible to argue that the fetus values its future yet, so why should it have a right to it? It could be argued that as the child could not possibly survive independently of the mother, at least before approximately four months into the pregnancy, it is not yet an independent human being, but an attachment of the mother, therefore she should be allowed to terminate it, if this is what she wants to do to herself, as opposed to when the child is physically independent of the mother, when any potentially life ending action against it would be inflicted upon the child directly, not its mother (Kellough 35). Based on the view that the fetus is already a small baby, some extreme anti-abortionists would maintain that abortion is impermissible even to save the mothers life. The rationale behind this view would be that the child is innocent, and killing the child would be active, on the other hand, letting the mother die would be passive. This introduces two new concepts, the first being the mother’s rights in competition to those of the fetus and the second being the question of innocence and how we would define this (Langley). The majority of abortions, however, are not performed in the interests of saving the mothers life, but to deter inconvenience and difficulty on either her part, or
Still, many people believe that women should not be given this right. They argue that the fetus growing inside her also has rights and that they should be protected.
The topic of abortion is a highly controversial discussion that has been prominent in the debates of morals and politics for decades. Most people agree that on the topic of abortion, it is like a black and white fallacy, which is an issue that only has two options. For example, a black and white and fallacy is that a person can either be a Republican or Democrat, there is no other option. In the discussion of abortion, the black and white fallacy is either pro-choice or pro-life. Despite this commonly believed two-sided argument, there is a third choice, pro-rights. Pro-rights argument is similar to that of pro-choice. Pro-rights defend the validity of abortion, by arguing abortion is within the natural, given rights of a woman; It is a woman’s right to be able to choose. This perspective focuses on the right of a women to her own body, her right of prosperity and happiness, and the lack of rights the fetus possesses.
The constitution does not specifically say anything on the topic which means that it all depends on the definition of human life, (what I have analyzed thus far), as related to the interpretation of the constitution. In the fifth amendment the constitution states that “No person shall… be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” So there is our answer right there, no person - the writers didn’t write an age limit there or a limit for developmental stage. But what about a woman having liberty to do what she wants with her body. Is that true? Absolutely! But science quite clearly shows that the embryos is not part of her body, so her rights should not override the rights of the unborn
Based on video and readings, Abortion at very basic level is the termination of a fetus. When people discuss the morality of abortion they begin by asking the question is the fetus a person with the right to life. One of the main questions that are debated is when life begins, is it at conception as argued by anti-abortionist, or is it at viability as stated by pro-choice advocates. This debate has been raging since the Roe v. Wade decision 41 years ago. I will discuss the different views of Pro-choice vs anti-abortionist that make up each side of this passionate debate.
In “A Defense of Abortion” written by Judith Jarvis Thomson, the author analyzes premises for which she believes that abortion should be permissible, but argues in some cases abortion should also not be allowed. Her analysis is different from most papers on this subject, because she immediately throws the argument of if the fetus is a person out the window. She calls it a “slippery slope argument”(Thomson 54). Thomson, instead, presents that a fetus does have the right to life, but she uses thought experiments that show the fetus’s right to life does not trump the mother's right to life. In this paper, I am going to discuss Thomson’s arguments, possible objections to her argument, and provide an answer for the objection using the author’s
Terminating a pregnancy is never easy for anyone involved. Some abortions are done by selfish choice due to social pressure but others are due to tragic situations. These situations involve choosing between the mother surviving or the baby surviving.
The public debate over abortion in the United States has intensified since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. Advocates on each side of the debate often hint that we must select between two stark options: “Pro-life” and “Pro-choice.” Strong pro-life advocates claim that abortion is immoral (except perhaps in a few cases) because the fetus is a human being from the
Many differences of opinion arise in regards to abortion, including the obvious “pro-life or pro-choice” question many people have defiant answers to. Abortion is a topic that most every person has a very strong, firm stance on, resulting in a worldwide debate of the matter. Differences of opinion persist within both movements. “Some pro-life activists may condone abortions in cases of rape or incest, while others take an uncompromising stance, believing that all abortion is murder” (“Abortion”). Most pro-life thinkers state that it is inhumane and immoral to abort a fetus under any circumstance, yet it is very important that the woman has the right to make her own decision based on her situation. If a woman needs to have an abortion, she
Pro-life and Pro-choice debates have become very controversial over the years. The Pro-Life stance fights for equal rights for the fetus, while the Pro-Choice stance fights for equal rights for the women. Currently abortions are legal in the United States up to the second trimester. The purpose of this power point will be to explore the ethical and legal viewpoints of the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice stances.
The author argues that abortion can be done to save a mother’s life. For example, if a mother has a health problem that will not allow her to carry the pregnancy then abortion should be done in order to save her life (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 28, 29). Furthermore, she argues that even though abortion is presumed as killing a child, the refusal to perform an abortion to an ill mother similarly results in the death of the mother. So it is unfair to the mother as both of them have equal rights to life and no one is inferior to the other (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 642). In addition, the author states that the extreme view that abortion is killing/murdering an unborn child is false (Feinberg and Shafer-Landau 30). In a like manner, if a pregnancy poses a death risk to a mother, she has the right to defend herself even if in doing so involves killing the unborn child.
The argument of abortion has been raging since the Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, in 1973. This court case has divided the country into two factions: pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-life advocates argue that abortions are murder and extreme levels of child abuse. While pro-choice advocates believe abortions are a justifiable means to end pregnancies. The pro-choice argument is that the fetus is not yet a human being and its rights should not override that of the mother's.
The moral permissibility of abortion other than if necessary to save the life of the mother does not depend on whether the fetus is a person. This essay examines the argument to why abortion is morally permissible and defends this notion using three central impressions, to which the essay is organized by the following: first, abortion does not depend on whether the fetus is a person, because the fetus is not a person. Second, the moral permissibility of abortion cannot be exclusively contingent in defining a fetus as a person since this concept is not conclusive enough for finding a solution. Third, the permissibility of abortion depends mostly on the mother’s agency to keep the fetus alive. And lastly, I include major objections against the permissibility of abortion and relevant counterarguments that go against them.
Many would argue that a fetus is a potential person because it is has the potential to become what it is not yet. However, does a potential person have potential rights? An example was used: does a potential doctor have the rights of a licensed doctor? When one is describing potentiality, All he is really describing is what that thing is not. By declaring that a fetus is a potential person, one is also stating that a fetus is not a person. As one can see, this issue of the essence of a person and whether a fetus is a person is a very complicated one. This becomes seven more complicated if one takes into account the issue of rights. Now, the concept of human rights, that is to say, what American society dictates as human rights, conflicts heavily with itself. On one hand, we form a deep and heavy opinion on one’s right to life. On the other, we hold an equally strong opinion on one’s freedom to live that life as they please. American society by and large has a firm belief in an individuals right to live. Therefore, if one comes to the conclusion that a fetus actually is a person, then that fetus should receive the protection to it’s right to live, as much as you or I. This society also holds the firm belief in one’s right to the sovereignty of his or her own body, equal to that of one’s right to live. In this case, it is imperative that we understand what liberties we can and cannot take upon ourselves
Abortion is a highly-debated topic of whether it is ethical for a woman to decide to have one. Abortion is any of various surgical methods for deliberately terminating a pregnancy. When we speak of abortion today, we mean induced abortion performed by trained doctors, not including miscarriage (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). Some current methods of abortion are morning-after pill, mifepristone, uterine or vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage, saline solution, prostaglandin drugs, hysterotomy, and partial birth abortion. Abortion involves questions about rights, happiness, and well-being, as well as the status and value of human life. The people who think it is ethical to have an abortion stand on the Pro-choice side and the people who think it is unethical stand on the Pro-life side. The liberal view of abortion supports abortions and the conservative view opposes abortion. There are many legal, religious, and medical conflicts that are included in the debate over abortion. The arguments made from both sides help us better understand whether a woman should have an abortion.
Abortion as an Ethical Issue In recent years, abortion has become one of the world’s most discussed ethical issues. This has made a huge impact on both men and women’s lives. There are many different views on abortion dating back from the Old Testament to the present day. I intend to show you all of abortion’s conventional arguments.