...Abortion February 23 2015 “Is abortion moral or immoral?” We still have no answer. We defend about the nature and the moral status of the fetus. Don Marquis as well as Bonnie Steinbock embraces with the argument of their own, which point out the morality of abortion. Don Marquis upholds the fact of since abortion deprives the fetus of a future like ours therefore most abortion is morally wrong. He adheres in his article “abortion is, excepting possibly in rare cases, seriously immoral”, what he meant was that not all abortions are wrong. He did not discuss about the exception of “… abortion before implantation, abortion when the life of a woman is threatened by a pregnancy or abortion by rape” Regard of that, Marquis has claimed, “… It is in the same moral category as killing an innocent adult human being.” He inquires the reason of killing a human being is wrong. Marquis explains the killing is not just cause of pain and perceive of loss to the victim’s family, moreover it includes the basis loss to the victims themselves as “the loss of one’s life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one’s future”. With the respect of Marquis’s theory, it is the loss of a valuable future like ours that respond to the question of why killing a human being is morally wrong. Moreover, Marquis also stated in his article “…the future of a standard fetus includes...
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...Is Abortion Moral? (From a Biblical Christian Perspective) Name of Author College Abortion refers to the removal of the pregnancy tissues, which includes the fetus and the placenta from a pregnant woman's womb. The other terms that are similar are termination of pregnancy or elective abortion among others. There have been several arguments on whether abortion is morally right or not. The argument follows the opinions generated from the religious followers who are mostly against abortion. Child abandonment, infanticide, and abortion were allowed under the Roman law during the times of Jesus (Bokenkotter 1990). It is surprising to find that Jesus never addressed the case since for Christians to read. Even if He did, it was never documented. This concern can make a Christian fail to know whether abortion is condemned by God or not. From the Bible, there is no clear evidence on whether abortion is moral or immoral. However, drawing lessons from some of the verses in the bible clearly indicates that the practice of abortion violates the moral obligations. A good example is from the book of Jeremiah in the Bible, in chapter one from verse four to five, which say that before the birth of Jeremiah, the Lord had consecrated him. The Load had already chosen prophet Jeremiah to be a famous prophet to the nations. God Himself new Jeremiah as a human being before birth and considered him to live in order to carry out His mission. God could not have allowed Jeremiah to die. Biblically it is...
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...Is Abortion Moral? (From a Biblical Christian Perspective) Name of Author College Abortion refers to the removal of the pregnancy tissues, which includes the fetus and the placenta from a pregnant woman's womb. The other terms that are similar are termination of pregnancy or elective abortion among others. There have been several arguments on whether abortion is morally right or not. The argument follows the opinions generated from the religious followers who are mostly against abortion. Child abandonment, infanticide, and abortion were allowed under the Roman law during the times of Jesus (Bokenkotter 1990). It is surprising to find that Jesus never addressed the case since for Christians to read. Even if He did, it was never documented. This concern can make a Christian fail to know whether abortion is condemned by God or not. From the Bible, there is no clear evidence on whether abortion is moral or immoral. However, drawing lessons from some of the verses in the bible clearly indicates that the practice of abortion violates the moral obligations. A good example is from the book of Jeremiah in the Bible, in chapter one from verse four to five, which say that before the birth of Jeremiah, the Lord had consecrated him. The Load had already chosen prophet Jeremiah to be a famous prophet to the nations. God Himself new Jeremiah as a human being before birth and considered him to live in order to carry out His mission. God could not have allowed Jeremiah to die. Biblically it is...
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...Meredith Kaiser Ajume Wingo Philosophy in Society Abortion is a hot button issue that has become the highlight of many debates, political debates, and religious differences. The issue of abortion is the contemplation of whether taking away the existence is of a fetus inside a women’s womb is moral or not. This debate has created political phrases such as “pro-life” and “pro-choice” (Lecture). Most would think that these two phrases are concretely of a singular meaning. “Pro-choice” does not simply mean that abortion is correct and moral but that women should have the right to choose whether or not the fetus is allowed to continue its existence in the womb of that particular woman. “Pro-choice” believers are perceived to believe that abortion is immoral under every circumstance, yet many “pro-choice” may think there are particular circumstances in which abortion is immoral and also moral. “Pro-life” on the other hand is not simply the political belief that abortion is immoral. Rather, it is the belief that the fetus inside a women’s womb is not just a fetus simply existing within her, but rather it is a separate and independent livening within the women whose life began at the time of conception. This view entails that abortion is murder because the baby is considered living on its own from the time of conception and therefore should have an opportunity to live a long fulfilling life without the interference of an abortion letting that happen. In this paper I will review three...
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...Abstract This essay will talk about why abortion is immoral and should be illegal. Although abortion is legal in the state of Texas, doctors should exercise their rights to not take part in abortions. Legal and Moral Stance of Abortion Abortion is a very touchy subject, not only here in Texas, but pretty much everywhere. Some will say it is moral, some will say it is immoral. As a healthcare provider, I feel abortion is immoral all the way, and that even though it is legal here in the state of Texas, it should be illegal. If I were actually a healthcare provider, this could potentially create challenges in a healthcare setting. Although the amount of abortions has decreased during the 1990s, there are still about 1.2 million legal abortions each year (Fremgen, 2012). Here in Texas, three very significant laws have been passed since Roe vs. Wade. In the late 1980s, abortions that were done in the last trimester were outlawed, which put an end to the alternative left behind from this particular decision. Following Roe vs. Wade, in 1977, a law was passed that protected any health care provider that both refused to participate as well as those that participated in abortions. Private facilities did not have any legal obligations to do abortions except if the mother’s life was in danger (Abortion Laws in Texas, n.d.). During 1985, the Texas Abortion Facility Reporting and Licensing Act decided that every abortion facility has to record the following...
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...Ricky Sides English 102 Mrs. Murphy Thoughts on Abortion and Its’ Morality Abortion seems to have become one of the most controversial topics within schools, politics, and religion. Many people have many contradicting ideals about abortion and the immorality that the act presents or does not. Some say abortion is a mother’s right that cannot be taken away while others say that is a cruel selfish act to kill an unborn child or lack their of. Is abortion moral and should it remain legal? Aside from maybe a few homicidal maniacs it is safe to say that killing another human being is immoral and frowned upon. What makes it moral to kill an unborn child then? Is it human? One of the biggest struggles that pro-life participants have is what an unborn child is classified as. The definition of a human being according to (Google Dictionary) is as followed. A human being, esp. a person as distinguished from an animal or (in science fiction) an alien, a homosapien. A child whose mother is a homosapien is a human. There is no way around it. Some say that an unborn baby is a human but is not a person. This is quite confusing seeing as how the definition of a “person” is a human being regarded as an individual. Most pro-life individuals say that an unborn child is not human. How can a baby or even a fetus not be a human if it is being born from a human, it is clearly not an alien, I hope. And how can it not be a person if it is human. Just because it depends on the life of its’...
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...‘Abortion is immoral.’ – Do you agree? Abortion is the deliberate termination of a foetus. Some people may argue that it is a foetus; however some may disagree and say that it is a baby. People have different views on abortion, some may say that abortion is immoral – this means that it is wrong in all circumstances or an absolute morality – this also means wrong in all circumstances. However, other people may believe abortion is moral – this means peoples beliefs on what is right or wrong or relative morality – this means it is only right in some circumstances. The law states that abortion is a relative morality because it only allows abortion to continue in certain circumstances, the circumstances are: the mental or physical health of the woman or her existing children will suffer if the pregnancy continues or the child, if born would be physically or mentally handicapped. Alternatively, ‘The Abortion Act’ that began in 1967 may be performed legally if two or more doctors agree. The law on abortion in 1967 had no time limit but under normal circumstances, the pregnancy should not have been passed the 28th week. On the other hand, in the year 1990 another law had been made this was called ‘The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act’. As for the 1967 act except that the time limit was reduced to 24 weeks, this law stated that abortion should only be legal if abnormalities have been detected which are physical or mental you could have an abortion up until birth (after 24 weeks)...
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...Abortions: Morally Acceptable or Not? The issue of abortion is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues faced by modern societies. This issue leads to topics of whether abortion is right or wrong, if it is the actual killing of a person, and what actually defines the moral status of a fetus. In this paper, I will be arguing against Bonnie Steinbock, who believes that abortions are morally acceptable. So I will be supporting the view that abortions are not morally acceptable. In Bonnie Steinbock’s essay, “Why Abortions Are Not Wrong,” she argues that abortions are morally acceptable because fetuses are non-sentient beings and therefore lack interests as well as moral status. Her first premise suggests that it is wrong to kill an organism with moral status, so she believes that a fetus is not morally equivalent to a newborn baby because a first trimester fetus cannot think, feel, or perceive anything like a newborn baby is able to. Steinbock states that a fetus “is certainly alive and human but it feels and is aware of nothing.” She also believes in the interest view which limits the moral status to beings who have interests and restricts the possession of interests to conscious and sentient beings. Which leads to her next premise that being sentient and having interests is essential for having moral status. Steinbock states that, “sentience is the ability to experience pain and pleasure.” The difference between sentient and non-sentient beings, is that since non-sentient...
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...Is Abortion Immoral? Question 1: Imagine two philosophers sitting on a bench at the county morgue. They are looking at the bodies being brought in and three in particular interest them. One is a woman who was six months pregnant due to rape and died from the pregnancy complication. She wanted to have an abortion but it (abortion) was illegal under all circumstances in her state. One is the body of a woman who died after attempting to give herself an abortion with a coat hanger. She was a poor woman who lives in the slums; she had no money to take care of the child and no way to feed her living children if she lost her work from the pregnancy. Another body is that of a one-month-old fetus that was aborted once the mother found out that it was going to be a girl. She has just had one child and wanted to wait for a couple of years to have another. While looking at these bodies the philosophers begin to discuss the question: “Is abortion immoral”? How would the discussion proceed if the two philosophers were: 1) You and Judith Thomson? 2) You ad Sidney Callahan? 3) Which position (s) do you find morally compelling and why? In this scenario, the two philosophers are sitting on a bench at the county morgue. They are looking at the bodies that died involving abortion’s issues. I will call case A – a woman who was six months pregnant due to rape and died from the pregnancy complication because abortion was illegal in her state. Case B is the poor...
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...By definition, abortion refers to the ending of a pregnancy by removal of fetus from the uterus of the mother before the embryo can survive its own. As an added note, abortion can be categorized into two types. One is natural abortion otherwise known as a miscarriage. In this case, the fetus is rejected by the mother’s body and does not survive to term. In some circles, this considered an act of God and therefore moral. The other is induced abortion. Induced abortion is an act done purposefully for either health reasons or other personal reasons. The last definition is where society has been divided and has caused a monumental debate as the case for and against abortion when done purposefully has ignited society’s deepest outlooks. Many philosophers...
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...| Abortions | Is it moral or immoral | | Naugie Pratt | 9/25/2012 | | Ethics of Abortion; Is it moral or immoral? Many debates over abortion focus on the political and the legal side of things, whether or not it is or isn’t morally correct for a woman to have an abortion. Many would argue that abortion should be outlawed and treated like a murder, instead of a personal choice over one’s life. Behind the debates are more fundamental ethical questions which aren’t always given the specific attention they deserve (Cline, Austin). Some would also believe that the law shouldn’t legislate morality, but all good law is based on moral values. (Cline, Austin) http://atheism.about.com/od/abortioncontraception/p/AbortionEthics.htm Arguments of a fetus being a person with legitimate rights, this would have to be a “no” and “yes” answer. The reason being is because it is a “woman’s right” to do whatever she wants with or to her body, if she is competent enough to make a life effecting decision, such as getting an abortion. Even if the fetus is a person, the abortion may be justified as necessary to a women’s bodily autonomy, but that wouldn’t mean that abortion is automatically ethical or unethical, to say the least. Even though states can’t force women to carry pregnancies to term, but they could argue that it is the most ethical choice to make. (Cline, Austin ) http://atheism.about.com/od/abortioncontraception/p/AbortionEthics.htm In my personal opinion...
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...ABORTION; PRO-LIFE OR PRO-CHOICE Some people believe that abortion is immoral and some people don’t. Morality is an interpersonal conflict over a decision between right and wrong (“Morality”). The question is what reasons people have for their beliefs for and against abortion and whether those reasons are reasonable or not? There are two main groups of people in the case of abortion, pro-life supporters and pro-choice supporters. On the one hand, pro-life supporters, those who think abortion is not right, consider a fertilized human egg a human being from the moment of conception. Therefore, they refer to abortion as murder. On the other hand, the pro-choice supporters, those in favor of abortion, have a different perspective. They believe that a fetus is a human only after birth. The moral difference between these groups encompasses one issue. That is “At what stage is a fertilized egg considered a human being?” According to Peter Singer, there are four general stages that the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers argue about in terms of the standing of a fetus. They are: “birth, viability, quickening and the onset of consciousness” (138). The arguments made by the two groups for and against each of these stages causes the standing of an embryo to be upgraded to that of a child in the long run, as Singer suggests (138). Thus, this paper will examine and analyze the four moral junctures for the status of the fetus -“birth, viability, quickening...
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...Perfectionist/Prudential Debate on Abortion [Name of Writer] [Name of Institute] Perfectionist/Prudential Debate on Abortion George Carlin - Pro-Life is Anti-Woman There are several different views on abortion, but no matter how one looks at it there will always be disagreement among people on whether it should be legal or not. Some people view it as negative strictly based on their religious beliefs, while others view it as negative strictly on their morals beliefs that abortion kills an unborn human. Prochoice individuals believe that a woman has the right to decide what to do with her own body. Many of their arguments begin with the idea that if a woman is raped she has the right to abort the pregnancy because it could traumatize her even more. Some women use abortion as a form of birth control and feel that it is their right to do so. No matter how one looks at abortion, it will always be a topic of extreme disagreement among people. According to the video, people who take a pro-life stance on abortion are people who are against abortion. These people strongly believe that the life of an unborn fetus is just as important as the life of the mother. Many pro-lifers feel it is their responsibility to be a voice for the unborn child. Women should be educated on all of the issues they may face physically as a result of abortion. Abortion can be a life altering event for the mother even after the death of the fetus. Another issue of importance is the negative...
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...Abortion is a topic that has become one of the biggest issues debated in the United States and in other countries today. Different schools of thoughts have different ideas and opinions regarding abortion, some ideas are pro-abortion and some argue for the abolishment of it. Abortion is one of the most complex problems dividing America with either side being so passionate about their stand it has been known to cause a lot of hate the other side. Abortion is the removal or the expulsion of an embryo or the fetus from the female’s uterus resulting to the termination of pregnancy. Abortion may occur spontaneously through a miscarriage or may be artificially induced through chemical or by surgical means. An induced abortion refers to any induced procedure that is performed at any point during the pregnancy period which will lead to the termination of the pregnancy before the point of viability. The most common abortion method today is artificial and medically induced. Abortion in the United States was illegal in most states until it was made officially legal throughout the country following the United States Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973. The case involved a single, pregnant woman named Jane Roe who wanted to have an abortion. During that time, the only way to get an abortion was through illegal and unsafe means that could endanger her life. Jane Roe wanted to have an abortion which would be performed by a licensed physician so that it would be under...
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...Abortion - An ethical issue. The issue of abortion is one that has been dealt with intense fervor, contention and scrutiny over the years, often emerging as the epicenter of moral, legal, civil and political battles. At the heart of this dichotomous issue is a fundamental disagreement on the morality of abortion, the right to individual freedom and a theological disposition manifesting in a collusion of the separation of church and state. This essay attempts to throw light on the moral and social imperative - a cornerstone of most anti-abortionist arguments as well as reproductive freedom, a thought central to the pro-abortionist defence. The term ‘abortion’ refers to the act of willful termination of pregnancy resulting in the removal of a foetus. The methods of abortion are varied and address the termination of pregnancy at differing stages of foetal development. While emergency contraceptives and abortion inducing drugs target removal of embryos at early stages, surgical means of foetal removal are called into play during late term abortions. Traditionally, there has been a vehement opposition to later term abortions and has drawn strong parallels of murder. However, in more recent times drug induced abortions have drawn the ire of those opposing abortion in any and all forms. Anti abortion or “pro-life” advocates oppose abortion as they deem it an immoral act. The moral debate on abortion draws from two distinct premises. On one hand is the question of whether a human...
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