Abortion: concept
Abortion
Abortion is the removal of a fetus from the uterus in an attempt to terminate a pregnancy. This is both a social and moral issue. The abortion procedure can be performed up to the sixteenth week of pregnancy. By the sixteenth week of pregnancy the fetus can hear external voices, sleep, and dream. The fetus’ heart is even circulating blood through its tiny body at this point. Therefore yes the fetus is a human being just as we are and it has every right to live. During the 1800’s in Europe and the United States women were allowed to practice abortion without any restrictions. When Britain passed antiabortion laws in 1803 other countries took their lead and by 1880 most abortions were illegal except if it was to save the mother’s life. Even though abortion was illegal many women still practiced this method and were not penalized for it. Many women died during the process because they were using unsafe methods such as inserting knitting needles and coat hangers into their vagina in an attempt to get rid of the fetus. They even went as far as douching with lye. These women were so desperate to rid themselves of their unborn fetus that they were risking their own lives in the process. This was complete insanity. Abortions are unethical because the fetus’ right to live begins at the beginning of conception and abortion is the deliberate murdering of an embryo which violates its right to live. Many pro-choice supporters claim that a women should have the right to control what is going on in her body. This claim contradicts itself because if a person should have control over what is happening to their body then the fetus which is a human being has the same exact right.
The standard argument for abortion is that the killing of a human being is prohibited, fetuses are human beings, thus the killing of fetuses is prohibited. Many Pro-Choice supporters try to disqualify the second premise stating that a fetus is not a human being based on personhood.
Abortion is the removal of a fetus from the uterus in an attempt to terminate a pregnancy. This is both a social and moral issue. The abortion procedure can be performed up to the sixteenth week of pregnancy. By the sixteenth week of pregnancy the fetus can hear external voices, sleep, and dream. The fetus’ heart is even circulating blood through its tiny body at this point. Therefore yes the fetus is a human being just as we are and it has every right to live. During the 1800’s in Europe and the United States women were allowed to practice abortion without any restrictions. When Britain passed antiabortion laws in 1803 other countries took their lead and by 1880 most abortions were illegal except if it was to save the mother’s life. Even though abortion was illegal many women still practiced this method and were not penalized for it. Many women died during the process because they were using unsafe methods such as inserting knitting needles and coat hangers into their vagina in an attempt to get rid of the fetus. They even went as far as douching with lye. These women were so desperate to rid themselves of their unborn fetus that they were risking their own lives in the process. This was complete insanity. Abortions are unethical because the fetus’ right to live begins at the beginning of conception and abortion is the deliberate murdering of an embryo which violates its right to live. Many pro-choice supporters claim that a women should have the right to control what is going on in her body. This claim contradicts itself because if a person should have control over what is happening to their body then the fetus which is a human being has the same exact right.
The standard argument for abortion is that the killing of a human being is prohibited, fetuses are human beings, thus the killing of fetuses is prohibited. Many Pro-Choice supporters try to disqualify the second premise stating that a fetus is not a human being based on personhood.
References: Boonin, David (2002), A Defense of Abortion Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Warren, Mary A. (1984), “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion,” in: The Problem of Abortion, 102-119. Warren, Mary A. (1997), “Abortion,” in: A Companion to Ethics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 303-314.