Ethics in Abortion

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced. Nowadays, abortion is getting more and more common. Approximately 19.5 million people have gone through abortion this year and it is gradually increasing every second as we speak. According to WHO, every year in the world an estimated 40-50 million women faced with an unplanned pregnancy decide to have an abortion. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.

To some, abortion may be ethical using the deontological theory of ethic as they think about the consequences. Referring to this teen blog http://teenabortionissues.com/, many teenagers has unplanned pregnancy and due to that, they decided that is best to get an abortion because 1) they cannot cope with being a mother, 2) that their not married and relationship is way unstable, 3) they do not have the financial capability to support that child.

Therefore the question now is abortion ethically right if done at the right cost?

To most, abortion is a serious Ethical Issue. Debates about abortion focus on politics and the law: should abortion be outlawed and treated like the murder of a human person, or remain a legal choice available to all women? Behind the debates are more fundamental ethical questions which are not always given the specific attention they deserve. Some believe that the law should not legislate morality, but all good law is based upon moral values. Below are a few most commonly ask question about abortion.

Questions

1) Is the Fetus a Person with Rights?

In my own opinion, fetus is a person with no rights although the law says all people has rights. However, in this case a fetus is still just an egg which does not have the ability to think for their own rights. Thus, the fetus rights will most likely depends on the owner/ the mother.

2) Does the Woman have Ethical Obligations to the Fetus?

If a woman consented to sex and/or did not properly use contraception, then she will know that there is a chance for her to be pregnant. Being pregnant means having a new life growing inside. Whether the fetus is a person or not, and whether the state takes a position on abortion or not, it’s arguable that a woman has some sort of ethical obligation to the fetus. Perhaps this obligation is not strong enough to eliminate abortion as an option, but it may be enough to limit when abortion can be ethically chosen.

3) Is it Ethical to Force a Woman to Carry a Pregnancy to Term?

Following the law, it forces women to carry that child in their body until birth but would it be ethical? Not permitting women a choice over being pregnant and reproducing is not compatible with justice in a free, democratic state. Even if the fetus is a person and abortion unethical, it should not be prevented through unethical means.

4) Does the Woman have Ethical Obligations to the Father?

Pregnancy can only occur with the participation of a man who is equally as responsible for the existence of the fetus as the woman. If the woman is capable to fully support the child on her own, I feel that it does not really matter what the father decides as the women is the one taking all the physical and mental risk as a pregnant women. However, if the women is unable the support and has no one to support her, the father should have the right to decide on whether she should keep or should not keep the child.

5) Is it Ethical to Give Birth to an Unwanted Child?

If the women can manage to support the child, they should keep it. However, it’s far more common that women have abortions because they feel unable to properly care for the child. Even if it were ethical to force women to carry pregnancies to term, it would not be ethical to force the birth of children who are unwanted and cannot be cared for. Women who choose to abort when they cannot be good mothers are making the most ethical choice open to them.

Conclusion

Abortion is a difficult issue. No one approaches it lightly or makes a decision about whether to have an abortion lightly. Abortion also touches upon a significant number of important, fundamental ethical questions: the nature of personhood, the nature of rights, human relationships, personal autonomy, the extent of state authority over personal decisions, and more. All of this means that it is very important that we take abortion seriously as an ethical issue.

For some people, their approach to the ethical questions will be purely secular; for others, it will be heavily informed by religious values and doctrines. There is nothing inherently wrong or superior to either approach. What would be wrong, however, would be to imagine that religious values should be the determining factor in these debates. However important religious values may be to someone, they cannot become the basis for laws that apply to all citizens.

If people approach the debates openly and with a willingness to learn from others with different perspectives, then it might be possible for everyone to have a positive impact on others. This may allow the debate to move forward and for progress to be made. It may not be possible for broad agreements to be reached, but it may be possible for reasonable compromises to be achieved. First, though, we need to understand what the issues are.