Free Essay On Abortion

Position

Abortion is significant bioethics issue that has ignited emotional debates. It regards the termination of pregnancy to remove an embryo out of the mother’s womb. This issue has been sensitive due to its consequences. The United Kingdom reviewed its laws and legalized abortion in 1967. The justification behind the legalization of abortion was due in part to the rising cases of backstreet abortions (Sedg et al., 2012). Legislatures contended that legalization of this practice would liberate most women that ended dying by attempting to terminate pregnancy in the backstage. However, abortion was legalized in the pretext that two doctors held a similar opinion that the life of the mother is endangered or on the circumstance that the physical and mental health of the mother would be destroyed by the presence of the fetus in the womb. I hold the position that abortion is morally right if the outcome of the exercise is for the benefit of the life that is associated with it. In this regard, I support legislations that advocate support for abortion. Prior to birth, the mother is a physical evidence of life in its observable form. In this regard, if the presence of the fetus puts the life of the mother at risk, efforts that are made towards restoring the life of the mother are moral. My position is supported by utilitarian ethical principle.

Supporting theory: Utilitarianism

This theory asserts that a woman’s involvement in abortion should yield the most desirable outcome to the greatest number of people (Shafer-Landau, 2012). Utilitarianism is the fundamental theory behind the formation of laws. Most laws are made to achieve best results for most people. Thus, my position to support abortion is derived from the actions of various countries that have pro-abortion laws vis-à-vis the utilitarianism’s request for the best outcomes. Most societies celebrate news about pregnancies. A family’s joy increases when the woman has chances of delivering a baby. However, such moments of happiness are usually dimmed by unfortunate scenario when the life of the mother is threatened by what should, otherwise, be a source of joy, pleasure and happiness. In this regard, the failure of pregnancy (the fetus) to deliver best outcome to the life of the mother is failure to deliver happiness, joy and pleasure in the broader confines of the society. Thus, the focus of utilitarianism is that abortion should be permitted when it delivers the best outcome (Shafer-Landau, 2012). However, a contrary argument, based on virtue ethics, holds that abortion is immoral.

Contrary theory: Virtue ethics

Christians base their perception of abortion on virtue ethics that associates acts of killing with immorality. They contend that the practice of abortion is undesirable. They hinge this claim on the proposition that the life of a human being is made by God (Husrthouse, 2013). Hence, no human being should kill fellow human being. Christians argue that morally wrong to participate in the killing of any form of life. The weakness of this argument is that the fetus, whose life should be protected at the expense of the mother, has no capability of experiencing pain and pleasure. It therefore, doesn’t make sense that life should be granted to a lifeless form when the condition of the carrier is in jeopardy. Utilitarianism takes advantage of this weakness by insisting adding that the mother has right to abortion since she has the ability to experience pain and pleasure. If aborting (pleasure) can take the place of not aborting (pain) in the context of critical medical circumstance, then abortion is this case is preferred.

References

Hursthouse, R. (2013). Normative virtue ethics. ETHICA, 645. Pearson.
Sedgh, G., Singh, S., Shah, I. H., Åhman, E., Henshaw, S. K., & Bankole, A. (2012). Induced abortion: incidence and trends worldwide from 1995 to 2008. The Lancet, 379(9816), 625-632.
Shafer-Landau, R. (Ed.). (2012). Ethical theory: an anthology (Vol. 13). John Wiley & Sons.