...Abortion is the ending of pregnancy before the birth and the Roman Catholic Church would say that this is morally wrong. An Abortion results in the death of an embryo or fetus. Abortion, the Church says destroys the lives of helpless, innocent children. By aborting these unborn infants, humans are hurting themselves; they are not allowing themselves to meet these new identities and unique personalities. The Church teaches the human life begins at the moment of conception. Does a mother have the right to take the life of her unborn child? Some may say that it is God’s will for that fetus to be born, and that the child is supposed to be born. I will be using different views from an ethical standpoint to try to understand if abortion is morally good or bad. From a non-biblical standpoint, it is based on whether a woman finds it ethically right to terminate a pregnancy and what effect it would ultimately have on her happiness. Therefore, abortion is not philosophically incorrect. Abortion is defined as: “The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy." However, if only the debate over the abortion issue was as simple as the definition provided. Much like every aspect of human life, a statement is not right or wrong, but can be left opens for interpretation. There is no black and white in life, only gray areas. Some issues provide us more gray areas than others. Abortion is a good example of that. If a woman does not believe in a higher power, what justifies her right to...
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...Catholics View on Abortion It is not right to destroy a human at any stage of life, whether it is a single cell, or a fetus, an infant, or an octogenarian. These are all natural stages of human development, but science establishes the beginning of human life at conception. From the moment of conception, a distinct human being is present. Abortion, therefore, kills a developing human being. This is a fact, not a moral or religious assertion. After the birth of a human being, our society has laws in place to protect it from murder. Thus, it would seem that we have chosen birth as the moment after which the laws of murder apply to a human being. If the process of birth is important enough to be the event that bestows on a human being its legal rights, it is entirely logical to ban a procedure that so effectively blurs the legal line between murder and abortion -- between the “born” and the “unborn.” Abortion is murder no matter what kind of laws the Government makes. In 1973 the United States Supreme Court made a decision on the case of Roe vs. Wade, the Court found that a woman had the right to choose whether or not to abort a pregnancy within certain constraints. However, according to the Court if a fetus were a person, abortion would be found impermissible. While this decision made an attempt at establishing a legal precedent, from a moral and religious standpoint, it is wrong. Upon the moment of conception, the human embryo is a person; and as a result, the fetus...
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...Abortion, the intentional and deliberate termination of a pregnancy has been an extremely controversial topic in both religious and secular views for centuries, and is continuously causing discussing regarding the moral and ethical values it impedes on. This method of murdering an innocent unborn child has developed multiple standpoints in many different religions. Specifically highlighting the Catholic Church’s stance as well the stance of Buddhist practices showing the similarities and dissimilarities of each religion. In an increasingly secular world a utilitarian stance will also be evaluated. Catholic church: (200 words) (82) The Catholic Church defines abortion as an unspeakable evil that is a crime to the creator. The Catholic Church...
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...Abortion has always been a topical issue within not only the Australia community, and within smaller groups, such as the Catholic Church. This assignment will address the stance of the Catholic Church and its ethics in regards to abortion. Divergence of opinion within the church and an example within Australian society will also be discussed. Renee Descartes and Augustine of Hippo (two Christian philosophers) theories will be applied to abortion, to reach a decision regarding whether or not they would agree or disagree with abortion. It is most likely that Descartes disagrees and Augustine would agree, to a certain extent; however further research will be conducted to provide evidence to reach a conclusion. Renee Descartes was a philosopher...
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...Synthesis Final Draft November 3, 2013 Different Point of Views on Abortion There are many different views about how an abortion affects a person. The first article that I came across is titled “Religious Perspectives On Abortion and A Secular Response.” This article was written by Rachek Ankeny, Moira Stephens, Christopher Jordens, and Ian Kerridge. These authors believe that having an abortion can cause medical, religious, and social discourse. This article talks about the point of views from seven of the major religious groups around the world. (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Confucian, and Hindu.) These authors have interviewed a medical doctor that represents one of the seven major religious so that they could get information on how different religious are affected by termination of a pregnancy. They first interviewed a Catholic doctor by the name of Helen Watt. Dr. Helen Watts explained that the Catholic Church has a long history of comforting women who have been harmed morally and emotionally by an abortion, and helping them deal with what has happened and make their peace with God. The emotional damage can be extensive and many women feel like they need assistance from post-abortion counseling and self-help organizations with the same feeling that they have experienced. Historically, the Catholic church has always been opposing the termination of pregnancies. The Catholic church believes that humans are not pure spirits but a bodily being...
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...The Church of England encourages people to think through the issue of abortion very carefully and recognises that each individual will have differing views on the subject. However, the Church's governing body, The General Synod, has passed resolutions on the matter which provide a coherent Church of England position. The Church of England combines strong opposition to abortion with a recognition that there can be - strictly limited - conditions under which it may be morally preferable to any available alternative. General Synod The Church of England shares the Roman Catholic view that abortion is 'gravely contrary to the moral law'. As the 1980 statement of the Board of Social Responsibility put it: In the light of our conviction that the foetus has the right to live and develop as a member of the human family, we see abortion, the termination of that life by the act of man, as a great moral evil. We do not believe that the right to life, as a right pertaining to persons, admits of no exceptions whatever; but the right of the innocent to life admits surely of few exceptions indeed. Church of England Board of Social Responsibility, 1980 However, this statement does acknowledge that under some circumstances abortion could be permissible. The 1983 resolution of Synod, after expressing concern about the number of abortions in recent years went on to recognise: That in situations where the continuance of a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother a termination of pregnancy may be...
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...Abortion is a topic that has been greatly argued over for many years. In the United States, one of the most common medical procedures performed is abortion. This procedure is done to women in order to terminate a pregnancy. There are about 1.2 million abortions performed per year in the United States alone. Most of these are done to women who are poor, unmarried, or young. Today in the United States, abortion is considered legal during the first part of the pregnancy. Even though abortion may be performed by many women, one of the greatest questions today is whether it is right or wrong. Abortion is greatly argued because it takes in many different perspectives (Infoplease). People who feel strongly against it fall under the Pro-Life category....
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...Abortion is a very controversial social issue that has existed for many decades. The controversy behind this issue is caused by the different views that people and societies have regarding abortion. The social science disciplines of political science and religion will be used in getting a better understanding of the opposing views of abortion. In discussing the religious aspects of abortion, this paper will focus on the Jewish and Catholic views of abortion and how the two faiths effect an individual s decision upon having an abortion. When discussing the political controversy regarding abortion, this paper will discuss the abortion laws in Canada and the United States as well as the pro-choice and anti-choice movements of abortion. Society is greatly affected both socially and politically by abortions due to the different moralistic views regarding abortions and the controversies surrounding abortions. What are the views of the Catholic and Jewish religions on having abortions and how do their different views effect society? How is society effected by the political controversies behind abortions? Religion and Abortion Abortion is an issue that causes extreme divisions among various religious groups due to the laws of the religions, in particular, those of the Jewish and Christian religions. The Jewish religion is based on the belief in one G-d as well as respecting the laws that G-d imposed on the Jews. The Jewish people are expected to do what is just and merciful in the...
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...Paper I will be researching Abortion in the two religions Christianity and Judaism. For Christianity I selected to research the Roman Catholic branch of Christianity. Abortion is not a modern issue. It dates back to the early days of religion, where the Ancient Jews believed that God created the child in the mother, and brought it to life. The Palestinians, and later, the Greeks and Romans practiced infanticide, sacrifice and abortion. In the Roman Empire, a child had no legal status until accepted by the head of the family. The anti-abortion stance of the Catholic Church began in its early days (The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles) states "You shall not procure abortion. You shall not destroy the newborn child". Christianity...
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...to the Christian religions Catholic and Anglican. IVF is used in cases of infertility –where the woman’s fallopian tubes are absent or blocked, the men’s sperm count is low, or the couple’s infertility is unexplained. It is an assisted reproductive technology in which one or more eggs are fertilized outside a female’s body. To do this, eggs are collected from the ovaries and placed in a dish with a large number of sperm for approx. 18 hours. The eggs are then placed in a special growth medium which allows fertilization to occur. Afterwards the embryo is either transferred back into the woman’s uterus or frozen and stored for later use. IVF has been a source of moral, ethical and religious controversy since its development. Although members of all religious groups can be found on both sides of the issue, the major opposition has come from the Roman Catholic Church. In 1987, the church issued a doctrinal statement opposing IVF on 3 grounds; the destruction of human embryos not used for implantation, the possibility of IVF by a sperm donor other than the husband-thus removing reproduction form the marital context, and finally the severing of an essential connection between the nuptial act and procreation. The use of IVF is said to violate the delicate innocence of those created, as God, their creator has not given them the gift of life, and therefore the fundamental value of life has been lost. Catholics believe it is immoral to produce...
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...States, abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy. Through the efforts primarily of physicians, the American Medical Association, and legislators, most abortions in the US had been outlawed by 1900. By 1965, all fifty states banned abortion, with some exceptions which varied by state: to save the life of the mother, in cases of rape or incest, or if the fetus was deformed. Groups like the National Abortion Rights Action League and the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion worked to liberalize anti-abortion laws. The Supreme Court in 1973, in the case of Roe v. Wade, declared most existing state abortion laws unconstitutional. This decision ruled out any legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions in later stages of pregnancy. While many celebrated the decision, others, especially in the Roman Catholic Church and in theologically conservative Christian groups, opposed the change. "Pro-life" and "pro-choice" evolved as the most common self-chosen names of the two movements, one to outlaw most abortion and the other to eliminate most legislative restrictions on abortions. According to the Center for Disease control –CDC In 2009, 784,507 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC from 48 reporting areas. The abortion rate for 2009 was 15.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years and the abortion ratio was 227 abortions per 1,000...
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...TOPIC: CATECHESIS; YOUTH AND CATHOLIC VALUE WITH A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ABORTION. According to Oxford dictionary, it defines the word “YOUTH” as the time of life when a person is young, especially the time before a child becomes an adult or the quality or state of being young. Youth can also be define as the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit; strong will est. characteristics of one who is young. The most delicate period of an individual is the youthful age. In this wise, it is of utmost important for parent to give appropriate checks and balances to their children. We all have a role to play in the life of our fellow youth; these roles can be adequately played if there is unity among cyonites. Unity among youth announces to the world the love that Christ has for all people and his wish to share his life with them. Christ himself knowing the importance of unity prays to his father, ” that they may all be one as thou father in me and I in you”, we are living stones in the building of which there is only one foundation, Jesus Christ. Each of us has the responsibility of promoting unity in a world largely indifferent to the church. Nowhere in the teaching of Jesus is “rugged individualism” promoted as an option for Christian spirituality. Christian would be known by their love and interconnectedness in caring relationships. When we live in one another, we not only share one another‟s burdens, we share one another‟s blessing, strengths and joys as well. Our personal development and...
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...The issue of abortion has been a widely debated issue over the past twenty years. In fact, it is probably still the most controversial of all the current contemporary social issues heading into the twenty-first century. Abortion poses a moral, social, and medical dilemma that stirs up emotional responses among disputants of the topic. Usually, there are two points of views on abortion, those that are “pro-choice” and those that are “pro-life.” Pro-lifers would argue that from the moment of conception, a fetus, or human embryo, is a living person. Abortion deprives this fetus of a chance to live and can be considered murder. The Catholic Church advocates this stance, since we have a moral obligation to preserve all forms of life. Pro-choicers, on the other hand, may feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mother and the state has no right to interfere. Actually, about half of the U.S. populations are for abortion and the other half are against it. Clearly, what’s at stake in the issue is the fetus right to life. The actual procedure involved in abortion can be done in a number of ways. As early as the day after having unprotected sexual intercourse, a woman can be given drugs to halt fetal development, such as the “morning after pill.” One of the most common methods of abortion is the vacuum aspiration method. This is usually performed within the first trimester (first three months) of pregnancy. A tube, called a cannula, is simply inserted into the female’s...
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...Public Policy: Abortion The public policy regarding abortion plays a large role in U.S. politics through influential interest groups who are either pro-life or pro-choice advocates. These opposing sides have compelling arguments regarding the abortion policy in the U.S. that have been largely debated since the legislation of Roe vs. Wade in 1973, where the U.S. government declared that abortion was a “fundamental right” of American women. (Procon.org) While majority of Americans agree that abortion should not be recriminalized, there is still controversy over policies regarding abortion. Pro-choice advocates discourage all policies restricting abortions or taxes making them less affordable, where as pro-life advocates encourage stricter policies on abortions. In the U.S., The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) are opposing advocacy groups that have greatly influenced this public policy and continue to inform and educate the general public on the abortion issue. Public policy regarding abortion is not just a national debate, other democratic countries face debate over abortion policies. For example, Canada has faced similar debate over abortion policies, but differs from the U.S. in significant ways. Pro- choice advocates in the U.S. believe that the government does not have to right to interfere with a women’s choice to get an abortion. They argue that women must have the right to abortion in order to posses the...
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...The medical ethics topic that I have researched is the issue of abortion. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. In the UK, every year around 200,000 women abort unwanted pregnancy. Abortion was legalised in the UK in 1967 through the Abortion Act which allows women to have a free abortion on the NHS if signed off by two doctors. It is a highly controversial issue due to many people showing that it is highly necessary but others say that it’s too easy to have. It was legalised to avoid issues such as back street abortions from occurring as many women were killed or severely injured by them. There are three main methods which are used to abort a foetus; an early medical abortion which can be used up to twelve weeks of pregnancy, vacuum aspiration which is used between seven and fifteen weeks of pregnancy and surgical dilation and evacuation which is used from fifteen weeks of pregnancy. Central to the theological debate are the different views as to when life begins, whether abortion is murder or should it just be seen as another form of birth control? Roman Catholics believe that life begins at the point of conception and preserving life is a ‘primary precept’ whereas the Islamic view is that life begins at 120 days of gestation. These different viewpoints show that abortion is even controversial within different religions. Another clear point of controversy withinthe topic is whether abortion is classified as murder. Albert Schweitzer developed the idea of...
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