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Abortion Essay for Ethics

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Examine and comment on the view that religious and/or moral principles provide essential guidelines for medical ethics, with reference to the topic you have investigated.

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Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy most often performed during the first 28 weks. Abortion in the uk was first made legal in 1967 when in the first year there were a total of … abortions which is a very small amount when compared to last years total of 185,122 in the u.k alone. This shows that abortion has increased dramatically since it was made legal in 1967.

Abortion is a historic subject of matter swaying all the way back to times when Christianity was just beginning to appear (and even before that). Greeks and romans allowed abortion in any situation and even infanticide-sorranus of Ephesus. Abortion could be accepted on any grounds such as to protect the woman’s looks, to cover adultery etc. the didache is one of the earliest writings of Christianity and within it it states that abortion is wrong in any situation as it is murder. The Hippocratic oath is an oath in which all doctors and nurses used to have to swear by. It states that the doctors will not give drugs which allow abortion as the main role of a doctor is to prevent life from ending. Abortion throughout history has been a very un-decisive subject and many will argue that is still is today. Society today is still un-decided about the matter with almost every other person having a different opinion on where life begins, whether or not abortion should take place, whether or not certain circumstances matter when it comes to the subject of abortion etc. An example of how it is still very much a subject of opinion is that abortion is legal in the u.k however in Ireland, which is normally seen as a very similar country to the u.k in many ways has abortion as being against the law.

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