Abortion Debate

Phil 108: Moral and Social Problems

Abortion

For many years the topic on abortion has brought up controversy all over the world. Abortion topics touch upon our deepest values and most basic beliefs. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy by surgical or medical processes. Two main questions that arise in the abortion debate are: Is abortion right? And what should the law allow? Arguments for and against abortion are diverse and vary from conservative (“pro-life”), liberal (“pro-choice”), and moderate. All three groups agree on the immorality of murder. The conservative and liberal disagree over the nature of persons and who does or does not qualify as one, and the moderate over when personhood starts. One of the main
Unlike the conservative theory, liberals believe that the fetus is not a person yet, or a human with moral rights, therefore abortion is permissible. According to the liberal theory an unborn becomes a person at birth not at conception. An argument brought up by the liberal is “the unborn is not a person until birth (and thus does not have a right to life). It is wrong to kill an innocent people. Abortion before birth would not be the killing of an innocent person. If abortion before birth is not the killing of an innocent person, it is permissible. Therefore, abortion before birth is permissible” (169). When involving law restrictions in arguments about abortion, pro-abortionists have the upper hand in the debates. Pro-abortionists believe that the fetus is not yet a person, and argue that by preventing the abortion option from being legal, some women might seek to illegal unsafe abortions, that can lead to death. If the abortion law is not allowed then the government is forcing women to bear to term, a type of procreative
Let’s turn the tables around and say that a couple has decided to start a family. During the pregnancy the couple finds out that the fetus has some sort of mental retardation due to Downe’s syndrome or will be born a vegetable, meaning it will not be able to talk, hear, speak, eat on its own, and so forth. The family and most importantly the mother should be the ones making the decision on whether or not to continue on with the pregnancy. A conservative would immediately attack this debate and say that going forth with an abortion will be considered murder. They might debate that even though the fetus has a birth defect, it is still human, and should be given the potential to life. Conservatives might even say so what if the newborn has a birth defect, there is help and medical treatments that can help raise this newborn. Sounds like the conservatives have a strong point to debate, No? I disagree with this idea. Yes, there are several medical treatments that can keep the newborn alive for years, but in order to keep up with all these medical procedures/treatments, you need to be financially stable. There are families who aren’t able to keep up with all the bills. In this case what would happen to what is now an infant or an adult with a major disability? Should families just leave them how they are since they can’t afford to be paying the medical bills? Why make the